This is a live post — updates will be posted below.
WILMINGTON, Delaware — Wednesday was a very bad day for the Bidens.
On Day 3 of the first son's federal gun trial, two of Hunter Biden's exes testified against him while his wife watched from the gallery, and his 73-year-old stepmother, first lady Jill Biden, saw his nudes flash across the projector screen, enlarged as trial exhibits. Thankfully, the family jewels were censored and cropped, sparing the jury.
Many in the media mistakenly thought the ex-stripper set to testify Wednesday, identified only as Witness #2 in the trial brief, was Lunden Roberts, Hunter's baby mama with whom he fathered his 5-year-old love child, Navy Joans. Little Navy, the seventh grandchild of President Joe Biden, has been repeatedly snubbed by both her deadbeat dad and the greater Biden family.
No, it wasn't that ex-stripper Hunter hooked up with. Hunter's other ex, Zoe Kestan, an online "cam girl" whose social media handle is "weed_slut_420," took the stand. As lovers, Kestan and Hunter starred in an amateur porn film made on his MacBook, according to former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler's non-profit, Marco Polo.
Background here: https://t.co/ZMZREYZSwr
— Marco Polo (@MarcoPolo501c3) June 5, 2024
In late 2017, Kestan met Hunter while she performed a private session for him at New York's No. 1 strip club, the Vivid Cabaret in Manhattan. He pulled out his phone and played a song by the band Fleet Foxes to serenade the "exotic dancer" and so-called "sex worker."
When she was asked to identify her client in the courtroom, Hunter smiled and waved.
Kestan, wearing a designer PUCCI silk scarf, oversized Tom Ford sunglasses, and a Channel limited-edition clutch handbag to the federal courthouse in Wilmington, had allegedly wanted to make Hunter her "sugar daddy." He seemingly obliged.
The two of them then went on a lavish spending spree, shacking up together at an assortment of Airbnbs and high-end hotels, such as the Four Seasons; SIXTY SoHo; SoHo Grand; the Mercer; Chateau Marmont, where Hunter learned to cook crack cocaine in the suite's kitchen over the month's time they stayed there; the Hotel Roosevelt; NoMad; and Jeremy West Hollywood.
The prosecution presented pictures of Hunter's used crack pipes and drug paraphernalia scattered about the luxury bungalows they lit up in. According to Kestan, she witnessed the first son constantly smoke crack as often as "every 20 minutes or so."
Another photograph shown to the jury was of Hunter submerged in the bathtub with a crack pipe in his hand as the pair prepared to bathe together. The courtroom erupted in laughter when the screen showed a photo of Hunter in a T-shirt with the green Adidas logo turned into a marijuana leaf. Text that says "ADDICTED" appeared below. "I thought that was funny because he didn't smoke weed," Kestan said.
Kestan's two-hour testimony disputed the defense's claim that Hunter's exorbitant cash withdrawals around the time of the October 2018 gun sale — a whopping $150,000 over a three-month period — were for everyday expenses and financially providing for his family. "A good amount" of the dough was blown on buying drugs, Kestan testified.
She said Hunter would remotely request a temporary PIN code, allowing anyone to access his Wells Fargo bank account and withdraw cash from an ATM machine on his behalf. He'd order her and even drug dealers themselves to take out money, she said.
When discussing a drug dealer she dealt with in Hunter's absence, the prosecutor asked, "What kind?" She said, "Samoan." He meant what kind of drugs.
During re-direct, the prosecution harped on the fact that Hunter was twice Kestan's age at the time, characterizing him as a creepy middle-aged man sniffing around a young, vulnerable girl exhibiting fatherless behavior. He was 48; she was 24, close in age to one of Hunter's daughters, when he had allegedly asked her to help him procure drugs. The age-difference argument didn't prove anything related to the felony firearm charges, but it did demonstrate that Hunter corrupting the cradle could even make Joe Biden blush.
Today, we turn our attention to Gordon Cleveland, the guy who sold Hunter the gun that initiated the investigation.
The defense tried to paint Cleveland as a shady, slimy sales-hungry salesman who preyed upon the poor president's son and squeezed a $900 sale out of him. But it turns out that Cleveland is a cool, calm, and collected witness very knowledgeable about firearm safety and sales. "I like guns and I like cars," Cleveland said simply after being asked how he remembers Hunter pulling up in his famous father's black Cadillac CTS. Once he purchased the Colt Cobra revolver, Hunter had told him to keep the change, an oh-so-generous $13, but Cleveland said he doesn't take tips and that he earned the "same pay regardless of whether anyone bought anything or not."
This smear tactic also might not bode well for Hunter given that Cleveland is a black man, and the defense is trying to besmirch his character in criminal court before a black-majority jury.
Following jury selection, NAACP Delaware's leader, Richard Smith, embraced Hunter as he exited the courtroom. "I told him we support him and I told him the black community is with him," Smith reportedly said afterwards. "We understand what he is going through. And said we love each other."
We'll see about that.
LIVE UPDATES:
9:00 a.m. — we're back in the courthouse for another day of testimony. The defense begins by saying that once the government rests its case, Hunter's team will file more motions for the judge to rule on. Judge Maryellen Noreika says she'll consider the submissions but doesn't want to "waste the jurors' time" by making them wait around for rulings on the defense's motions.
The prosecution objects to an eight-page exhibit from the defense, the source of which was just provided to the prosecution. Prosecutor Leo Wise says it is "inadmissible hearsay" involving Hallie Biden who is lined up to testify against Hunter today and a "late" submission.
"Why are you doing that today if you're introducing the exhibit?" Judge Noreika asks the defense.
Wise continues, saying the proposed exhibit — purportedly containing the text of messages extracted from Hunter's hard drive — was not given to the prosecution until now, is not from Hunter's iCloud, and doesn't appear in the prosecution's extraction report.
Hunter's team says the texts came via the defense's extraction software. A confused Noreika tells both parties to speak simply and consistently use terms to refer to the source material. "I've got hard drives and laptops and iClouds, oh my," Noreika quips.
Wise says the defense intends to impeach Hallie Biden by "catching" her testifying to something that's inconsistent with what she previously said in out-of-court statements.
9:25 a.m. — the judge sustains the prosecution's objection, saying she does think it's hearsay, but the texts between Hunter and Hallie can be decided on an item-by-item basis. "We didn't invent things; we got it from them," the defense insists.
The issue here is that the defense's extraction apparently differs from the prosecution's extraction, though both are derived from Hunter's data.
9:37 a.m. — the defense's cross-examination of Gordon Cleveland, who sold Hunter the firearm in question, resumes.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell compares how questions on the federal form Hunter filled out to obtain the firearm differ from each other in phrasing. For instance, one asks, "Have you ever been convicted...?" and another asks, "Are you an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States?" Lowell points to the change in tense from past to present on the question about drug use or addiction. That question is similarly phrased in the present tense and it is not accompanied by a provision explaining the questions, as the others are.
9:45 a.m. — the prosecution approaches the judge for a sidebar.
9:47 a.m. — Lowell continues reading through the provisions that accompany the set of questions on the ATF form, which define terms like "fugitive from justice," but "addict" and "user" are not.
9:51 a.m. — the judge orders the parties to "come over here" after Lowell delves into what the StarQuest Shooters and Survival Supply gun shop's process was for verifying Hunter's passport as a valid form of identification.
9:55 a.m. — Cleveland recounts how Ron Palimere — owner of StarQuest — got involved in the transaction. Cleveland's coworker Jason Turner took over the background check portion. Turner's handwriting appears on the form in addition to Cleveland's.
Lowell asks Cleveland why he didn't read the form's questions aloud to Hunter, to which Cleveland says that's something the signatory should do himself. He says he instructed Hunter to "take your time" and look over the sections carefully.
Lowell shows Cleveland a picture of the lockbox that Hunter's revolver was stored in after the sale took place.
10:08 a.m. — on re-direct, Wise's co-counsel Derek Hines asks Cleveland about drug users or addicts purchasing firearms. Cleveland says it's dangerous and illegal if anyone under the influence, even a medical marijuana card holder, handles a firearm.
10:13 a.m. — Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter's late brother Beau Biden, is called to testify. Hallie and Hunter had an affair in October 2018.
Hallie says she saw evidence of Hunter's drug abuse at her home in Delaware and house in Annapolis. "It became more and more frequent," Hallie says of Hunter doing drugs "daily." She specifies he took a break from smoking crack to sleep and socialize.
Hallie recalls visiting Hunter while he was staying at the Roosevelt Hotel and witnessing him smoking crack. Wise asks if she, too, was partaking. "Yes, I was," she says. Wise questions who introduced her to crack cocaine. "Hunter did," Hallie responds. "It was a terrible experience. I am embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that portion of my life," she adds.
Continuing, Hallie details how she was cleaning out Hunter's car on October 23, 2018, to see if there was any alcohol or drugs hoarded there. Upon searching, she found a dusting of powder — "remnants of crack cocaine" — and drug paraphernalia. "Oh, and the gun, obviously," Hallie adds. She says the firearm was stored in the center console of Hunter's Ford Raptor truck and the lock was broken.
Alongside the firearm were 25 rounds of ammunition for the revolver, Hallie explains. "I panicked and I wanted to get rid of it," she tells the jury of the fear she had that Hunter would harm himself or that her children would find the firearm.
Hallie says she wrapped up the gun and rounds in a brown leather pouch Hunter used to store his personal belongings. "Sometimes business cards, sometimes drugs," she explains.
The prosecution is now playing security footage from the parking lot of Janssen's Market in Wilmington where Hallie drove to toss the firearm and rounds after placing the leather pouch in a plastic shopping bag. The video shows Hallie discarding the items into the grocery store's dumpster, then lingering at the store's entrance.
Hallie returned to the store after Hunter realized his firearm was missing. Video of her second trip to the store shows her frantically looking for the firearm, walking up and down the sidewalk as she searches. Hallie says she went inside the grocery store and asked if management had removed the trash or had surveillance cameras. At this point in her retelling of the saga, Hallie filed a police report.
The prosecution pulls up Hunter's texts with Hallie on October 13, 2018, the day after he purchased the firearm, where she asks where he is. "Buy...ing," he replied, "I guess." At 10:30 p.m. that night, Hunter sends the text about being with "Bernard who hangs at 7/11..." waiting for the drug dealer named "Mookie." The next day, Hunter sent the text to Hallie explaining: "I was sleeping on a car smoking crack..."
"I just want to help you get sober, nothing I do or you do is working," Hallie replied. "I'm sorry."
On the morning she took the firearm from Hunter's truck, he texted her: "Did you take that from me Hallie? Are you insane? Tell me now. This is no game. And you're being totally irresponsible and unhinged."
"You really need to help me think right now Hallie — this is very serious," Hunter also said in a message. Hallie replied to Hunter while she was at the grocery store waiting for police officers to arrive, telling him he's "dangerous and negligent" but that she's the one who is possibly "going to get in trouble."
"Check yourself into a local rehab, Hunter. This has all got to stop," Hallie's texts continue. "Don't run away again. Please don't leave."
"Police coming to talk to me now," she texted Hunter. "I'll take full blame. I don't want to live like this anymore. This is too much for me to handle," she said.
When Hunter texted about his firearm being in a locked car, Hallie corrected him. "It was open unlocked and windows down and the kids search your car." She apologized to Hunter for handling the situation "poorly" but then turned it around on Hunter and asked him to own up to his addiction issues.
Another text from Hunter to Hallie from November 3, 2018: "I'm a liar and a thief and a blamer and a user and I'm delusional and an addict unlike beyond and above all other addicts that you know and I've ruined every relationship I've ever cherished."
11:08 a.m. — the attorneys have a sidebar, then the judge calls for a morning break.
11:37 a.m. — questioning resumes for Hallie Biden and the prosecution presents an October 31, 2018, text Hallie sent to Hunter saying that in the library of her home "sitting next to Hunter [her son] was your brown leather pouch with a stem in it laying in the chair next to him." Hallie explains that "a stem" means a crack pipe.
11:43 a.m. — Lowell begins cross-examining Hallie. He asks if Hunter would deny his drug addiction to her and to himself. Hallie affirms but the prosecution objects and the judge strikes her speculation.
Lowell asks Hallie to recall when Hunter came back to the East Coast to attend one of the counseling sessions with her at a facility in Pennsylvania about an hour-and-a-half drive from Wilmington. Hunter is documented as flying into Philadelphia on the morning of October 6, 2018, on a flight from Los Angeles. Hallie struggles to confirm details.
The defense shows Hallie a document of texts, asking her to read it to herself — the prosecution asked that it not be read into the record — in hopes the messages will refresh her recollection.
12:00 p.m. — Lowell again brings up the texts where Hunter talks about meeting "Mookie" the drug dealer. "You had no idea if he was just saying that or he was actually there?" Lowell asks. "Correct," replies Hallie.
12:03 p.m. — the judge interrupts and reviews the rules of evidence. Lowell continues and then the judge stops him again: "Did I not just...?" she says, then trails off. An attorney-judge sidebar ensues.
12:13 p.m. — Lowell reads aloud the texts between Hallie and Hunter on October 22, 2016. Hallie had asked, "Are you in NY with Zoe [Kestan]?" The same recollection issue returns and Hallie appears to be reading from the document containing text messages to refresh her memory of events. "Don't look down, just look up at me," Lowell instructs as Hallie struggles to not look at the texts.
The point of this line of questioning was to establish whether Hunter and Hallie saw each other on the evening of October 22, 2018. Hallie says she doesn't remember them being together. Lowell discusses the following morning, the day she took Hunter's gun from his vehicle, then reads texts Hallie and Hunter sent on October 23, 2018, into the record.
Hallie had asked Hunter to come home in the messages because he was staying at a hotel, Lowell notes. He asks if Hunter's truck was parked outside her house yet and if it's possible he wasn't present. "How?" Hallie responds.
"She can't ask him questions," Wise interjects, drawing laughs from the courtroom.
12:45 p.m. — time for a lunch break. The pace this morning was painstakingly slow. The prosecution continues to accuse Lowell of leading Hallie to affirm Hunter's whereabouts, agreeing to leading questions just because the texts are in front of her. We'll see if there are any breakthroughs in the afternoon.
1:45 p.m. — President Joe Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, enters the courtroom after lunch.
1:50 p.m. — the attorneys sidebar before the jury is brought back in.
1:55 p.m. — everyone's back and the cross-examination of Hallie resumes. Lowell presses her on the "remnants of crack cocaine" she found inside Hunter's car. "Not a piece, dusting," he emphasizes.
Lowell asks Hallie if she scooped up the ammunition as well. "Some were loose out of the box," she says of the rounds being strewn about. For clarity, Lowell asks if they'd "fallen" out. "Yes," Hallie responds.
"You decided on your own to put [the gun] in the [leather] pouch?" Lowell asks. "Yes," Hallie says. Appearing frustrated, Lowell remarks to Hallie: "So, there are some things you remember and then many things you don't."
There was a frenzy of calls back and forth between Hunter and Hallie the day she took his firearm. "I don't recall," Hallie repeatedly responds as Lowell presses her to remember that morning.
Lowell mentions Hallie being spotted on surveillance camera footage at the grocery store at 11:20 a.m. and returning at 11:52 a.m. In between, Hallie and Hunter talked over the phone for 1 minute and 56 seconds. During that conversation, Hunter told Hallie to file a police report, Lowell says.
The defense attempts to raise the alcohol-only addiction argument, suggesting the sobriety Hallie and Hunter texted about could have been alcohol sobriety and not crack sobriety. It wasn't clear, Lowell says.
"Don't come back to the house. You have something in New York more important than me obviously," Lowell quotes from a text message Hallie sent Hunter on October 27, 2018.
Lowell says the text messages between the two reflect that Hunter accompanied Hallie to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the end of the month. She says she doesn't recall him attending. Lowell references the "I'm a liar and a thief and a blamer [...] and a user [...] and an addict" text from Hunter to Hallie. Lowell again suggests it is part of an AA program in which the participants admit their addiction even if they've taken steps toward sobriety.
2:40 p.m. — Wise is back up to re-direct Hallie, recounting how she witnessed Hunter looking disheveled and then decided to search his car out of concern.
2:43 p.m. — the defense claims Wise is leading the witness. Judge Noreika reminds Wise to use open-ended questions.
Wise asks why AA participants admit they're addicts. "Because you believe that's what you are," Hallie says.
2:46 p.m. — the prosecution calls Delaware State Police Senior Corporal Joshua Marley, who responded to the firearm incident at Janssen's Market. Marley recounts his interview with Hunter. At the time, he was believed to be the victim of a firearm theft.
2:53 p.m. — Lowell begins cross-examination of Marley, who doesn't remember if they considered charging Hallie for taking the gun. Lowell emphasizes that Hunter was classified as a victim at that point.
3:02 p.m. — afternoon break called by the judge.
3:25 p.m. — the prosecution calls on former Delaware State Police Lt. Millard Greer to testify about his follow-up investigation into the gun incident at Janssen's Market and his eventual recovery of the firearm.
Greer testifies he reviewed surveillance footage of an elderly man, Edward Thomas Banner, rummaging through the store's trash receptacle for recyclables. Greer tracked him down and asked if he noticed someone dumping something that shouldn't be there. "Oh, yes they did," Greer quotes Banner saying. The dumpster-diving U.S. Navy veteran had taken the .38 Special revolver home with him.
At his house, Banner retrieved a black box from upstairs and took out the gun stuffed inside a pair of socks. He presented the gun and ammunition, plus the Speedloader, altogether with the leather pouch to the police.
Banner also handed over another firearm, a Sundance .25 semi-automatic handgun.
Greer called Hunter to see if he wanted to pursue prosecution as the victim of a firearm theft.
3:40 p.m. — Lowell cross-examines Greer.
Greer says when they arrived at the 80-year-old man's house, he had accidentally locked himself out. His wife had to wake up from her midday nap to unlock the front door and let them in. Banner scampered up the steps and retrieved what looked like the bottom of a shoe box without a lid, Greer recalls. After pulling the gun out of the rolled-up sock, Banner held everything in his cupped hands to turn the items over to Greer.
"I don't think everything would have fit in that pouch," Greer remarks, referring to the soft, square pouch's small dimensions. "Exactly!" Lowell exclaims.
4:03 p.m. — Lowell challenges if the gun was ever sent for ballistic testing since Greer never received a forensics report back from the laboratory. Two of the 25 rounds of ammunition were missing, and an analysis was supposedly done to see where the stray bullets may have ended up if a hit was generated in the system, indicating whether they were used in a crime.
Banner, a retired General Motors worker, said the gun would have otherwise sat in that box, a General Motors lunch pail, for years had Greer never retrieved it.
4:13 p.m. — Banner is called to the stand.
He is hard of hearing and struggles to sit down in the witness chair. "Can you hear me okay?" Hines asks. The court suits Banner up with a pair of headphones connected to the courtroom's audio system. Hines then approaches the witness stand so Banner can hear him.
Banner talks about collecting recyclables so he can earn a few cents off of his findings. "I got a nick' a piece for them," Banner says, mentioning that he only gets as much at 75 cents a pound nowadays. "Saving the environment and making money," Hines praises. Banner mentions the price of gas in this economy.
4:17 p.m. — the prosecution plays the security footage of Banner dipping out of frame to pick through trash. "That sure looks like me," Banner comments.
Banner says the two rounds of ammunition were already missing when he found Hunter's possessions.
Banner says the second gun he had was given to him by a coworker at GM who wanted him to have it to keep his brother out of "trouble." Banner has since kept it for safekeeping.
"This may be a weird question: Does anyone in your household use cocaine?" Hines asks, adding if he's come across any cocaine residue at home. "Not that I know of," the senior citizen replies. He mentions forgetting his wedding anniversary. The courtroom laughs hysterically.
4:22 p.m. — Lowell cross-examines Banner.
There's a hearing issue as Lowell asks Banner about being spotted at Janssen's Market, and Banner answers, "No, I don't work there."
Banner says he didn't put in or take out any bullets. Asked about the sock used to store the gun, Banner says, "I don't know nothing about no sock."
4:35 p.m. — Day 4 is done.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member