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WILMINGTON, Delaware — The defense's case is crumbling.
Well, when your client admits he's a crack addict in great detail, publishes those confessions in a widely distributed memoir, records himself saying he smoked crack "every 15 minutes" for an audiobook adaption, and takes a trove of selfies flaunting a crack pipe that are then recovered from a laptop he abandoned at a computer repair shop, you don't have much to work with. Enter: Hunter Biden's defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, the scandal specialist on Capitol Hill.
Lowell is arguing that any admissions Hunter made sound like a step in an Alcoholics Anonymous-type recovery program: admitting addiction to yourself and others even if you've taken steps toward sobriety.
This is one of many illogical conclusions Hunter's lawyer has drawn that many of those in the courtroom could not follow. At times, hardly anyone knows where his line of questioning is going, not even Lowell perhaps.
Like a meandering Michael Scott with the conviction of Saul Goodman, Lowell may be trying to trigger jury fatigue. Move at a painstakingly slow pace and overwhelm the jurors with a boatload of red herrings that makes it feel like you're building towards something substantive but doesn't add up to anything at all. Make it seem like such a sprawling case so to dilute the mountain of evidence against Hunter, which he provided himself, and induce amnesia about the cold, hard facts.
However, once you strip everything down to its bare bones, remove all the noise, it's a clear-cut case. Hunter either lied about doing drugs or he didn't in order to obtain a gun.
Lowell says the federal background check form's questionnaire should have been read aloud to Hunter, purportedly a savvy businessman, an attorney, and the "smartest man" his father knows, so he could understand what he was signing. While he was filling out the ATF form, Hunter could have truly and honestly believed he was sober at the time, Lowell says; it all comes down to whether he "knowingly" lied.
Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden's late brother, Beau Biden, and whom Hunter had introduced to crack cocaine, answered questions under oath Thursday to shed light on Hunter's state of mind that month he's accussed of illegally buying the gun and unlawfully possessing it.
Lowell had to be stopped repeatedly for phrasing leading questions. In front of Hallie, he had placed an exhibit containing her texts with Hunter around the time she ditched Hunter's gun at Janssen's Market in October 2018. Not remembering what she said six years ago, Hallie kept looking down at the texts, placed there to "refresh her recollection," and subsequently affirming Lowell's assertions about Hunter's whereabouts because the texts said so.
When she stopped short of corroborating the timeline leading up to the gun's tossing, Lowell accused Hallie of selectively recalling things. "So, there are some things you remember and then many things you don't?" Lowell retorted. Hunter's legal team has employed this tactic frequently throughout the trial in an effort to cast doubt on the credibility of the witnesses and the actual transpiring of events.
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For instance, on October 13, 2018, the day after he purchased the firearm, Hunter texted Hallie he was "buy...ing." That night, Hunter messaged he was with "Bernard who hangs at 7/11" waiting for a drug dealer named "Mookie." The next day, Hunter texted: "I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney." Lowell questioned if the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, special agent Erika Jensen, independently verified that what Hunter texted was true — that there was, in fact, a drug dealer called "Mookie" or if Hunter really did smoke crack on a car parked at the downtown Wilmington intersection.
Lowell also sounded the alarm on different colored ink the federally licensed gun dealer used to certify the form, suggesting it was tampered with to frame Hunter. The salesman explained that it's store policy to use red ink under certain sections, making them easier to find, so it expedites the auditing process.
Next up was former Delaware State Police Lt. Miller Greer, who testified about his eventual recovery of the firearm. It turns out that an elderly man by the name of Edward "Ed" Banner stumbled upon the gun Hallie had discarded in one of the grocery store's trash cans.
Lowell emphasized that at this point in the investigation, Hunter was considered the victim of a firearm theft and could have pursued prosecution against Hallie or the geriatric Banner.
Then, Lowell prompted Greer to meticulously go over the sequence of events again.
After easily tracking the old man down, since there's not much dumpster diving going on in affluent Greeneville, Greer recovered the gun from Banner, who had excitedly taken his discovery home with him.
The two went to his house to retrieve it, but Banner had accidentally locked himself out. So, they waited until his wife woke up from her midday nap to unlock the front door and let them in.
Among other pointless exercises, Lowell had Greer give the court a crash course on assembling a semi-automatic, since Banner also had in his possession a Sundance .25 pistol, completely unrelated to Hunter's Colt Cobra.
According to Greer's recounting of events, the retiree had stashed Hunter's gun upstairs in his old General Motors lunchbox, supposedly stuffing it in a pair of rolled-up socks.
Latching on to this detail, Lowell began rapid-firing questions at Greer: how many socks were there, where were these socks placed, how were the socks folded, what does sock-rolling entail, and so on.
Tongue-in-cheek spectators observing from the overflow room started shouting out some hard-hitting follow-up questions:
"What color were they?!"
"Were they tube socks?!"
"Please say they were orthopedic!"
The people want answers, Lowell.
The man supposed to provide those answers shuffled out: Banner himself.
A Pixar character brought to life, the bespectacled Banner — reminiscent of the old man from the movie "Up" — struggled to lower himself into the witness chair. The court equipped him with a pair of headphones connected to the courtroom's audio system, but both parties decided to just crouch down next to the stand so Banner could hear better.
"I don't know nothing about no socks," the 80-year-old Navy veteran emphatically declared when Lowell pressed him on the sock-stashing quandary and hoped to catch any inconsistencies in his statements.
Lowell's gotcha-moment was soiled by the optics of a Washington lawyer squeezing a hard-of-hearing senior citizen, who rummages through trash receptacles for recyclables to earn a few cents off of his findings. "I got a nick' a piece for them," Banner told the court, but now he only pockets as much as 75 cents a pound these days. Times are tough in this economy, "especially now with gas prices!" Banner griped.
It may not be the best defense strategy to test the failing memory of an octogenarian, though we have one in the White House.
Judge Noreika joked that questioning a witness up close isn't what it looks in the courtroom dramas.
"No, it's not the same as when Perry Mason did it," Lowell remarked.
At the end of Day 4, Lowell said they're still not sure whether the first son will take the witness stand. If Hunter does, he will have to undergo intense cross-examination about his drug-fueled debauchery.
Meanwhile, the prosecution is ready to rest after it offers two more witnesses Friday: a forensic chemist and a DEA agent.
9:13 a.m. — Dr. Jason Brewer, a forensic chemist, is called to testify about the analysis he performed on the “white powdery substance” found on Hunter’s leather brown pouch, which the gun was wrapped in by Hallie Biden.
9:17 a.m. — Brewer explains how he analyzed the residue at the FBI laboratory. Upon visual examination, Brewer spotted a “minimal” amount of “off-white” residue on the inside flap and at the bottom of the interior of the pouch. Brewer combined the particles, placing them in a test tube for “D.A.R.T.” (Direct Analysis in Real-Time) testing. Then he conducted a GC-MS (Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry) test. Afterwards, Brewer compared the material to a reference substance, such as cocaine, so he could identify the residue. “Cocaine was identified within the residual white powder that I sampled,” Brewer says. The results were documented in a lab report and entered as a trial exhibit.
9:30 a.m. —Lowell’s co-counsel cross-examines Brewer.
The defense says there was a five-year window between when the pouch was found in 2018 and when Brewer analyzed it in 2023.
Questioning the chain of custody, the defense focuses on Brewer not being able to establish who put the powdery residue on the pouch, when it appeared, and how long it has been there, as DNA and fingerprint testing go beyond his area of expertise.
9:35 a.m. — DEA Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Romig takes the stand as an expert witness to opine on coded terms and drug-related language embedded in Hunter’s messages, such as “baby powder,” “party favor,” “10 grams,” “chore boy,” “one full,” “fentan,” and a “ball,” among many others.
9:43 a.m — The defense objects after federal prosecutor Derek Hines asks how cocaine is trafficked into the U.S. The attorneys sidebar.
9:46 p.m. — Romig explains where cocaine originated and how the Mexican cartels traffick it through the U.S.'s southern border with Mexico.
9:50 p.m. — Hines asks Romig to interpret a message Hunter Biden sent in April 2018: “I can be here by 6:45. I can do another 1.4 on [top of] what you owe.”
Romig says “1.4” means 1.4 grams of cocaine, the equivalent of 14 dime bags. Buying in bulk like this brings the price down, Romig adds.
Hines then points to a photograph Hunter took of a bag of cocaine sitting on a scale, which reads 4.7 grams. For comparison, Romig says 3.5 grams is an “8-ball” or an eight of an ounce. The amount of cocaine Hunter had would sell at that time for anywhere between $120 - 220, depending on the buyer-seller relationship, Romig explains. “I had a ball on me,” Hunter texted later on in March 2019.
In May 2018, Hunter texted, “Can you get baby powder,” adding, “the really soft stuff.” Romig says that’s a reference to cocaine powder, which can be turned into crack cocaine.
In July 2018, an apparent drug dealer was offering Hunter 10 grams for $600. Romig says that’s “pretty significantly” pricier than the typical market rate for that amount.
“I need more chore boy,” Hunter texted in August 2018. Romig explains that chore boy is a scouring pad drug users rip into pieces to filter the crack pipe.
In February 2019, Hunter texted, “I think it may be fentan…” The person he was texting responded, “Fentanel [sic] kill ppl. I heard about it.” Romig says sometimes sellers lace cocaine with fentanyl, calling the latter “the most dangerous drug in America today.”
10:12 a.m. — Lowell cross-examines Romig. Again, attempting to dispute that these transactions actually transpired, Lowell questions if Romig ever investigated and/or apprehended the drug dealers Hunter dealt with, as demonstrated in the aforementioned messages. Romig says this was an FBI investigation, not the DEA's jurisdiction.
Lowell says the fall of 2019 (between August and November) is devoid of drug references. “With the exception of the October texts when he says he’s smoking crack,” Romig snaps back, referring to the message where Hunter says he’s “smoking crack on a car” when he was in possession of the gun.
10:35 a.m. — Lowell brings up Hunter's bank statements, saying it would take tons of cocaine to total anywhere near the thousands of dollars of cash Hunter withdrew over the three-month period around the time of the gun sale.
10:40 a.m. —The prosecution rests.
The defense is still in a state of disarray: Judge Noreika is reviewing the rules of evidence and instructing Lowell how to enter his exhibits.
When the court let out for recess, Lowell asks Judge Noreika for an acquittal now that the prosecution has rested — a common ask in criminal cases at this poin — on Second Amendment grounds.
“It’s an interesting concept,” Judge Noreika says of one of Lowell’s arguments.
11:13 a.m — StarQuest Shooters employee Jason Turner, who ran the background check on Hunter Biden, is called as the defense’s first witness.
Lowell asks Turner to recount running the background check on Hunter the day of the gun sale.
Turner says Hunter’s not-yet-signed ATF Form 4473 was brought to him in the back of the store to conduct the check, along with a copy of Hunter’s ID (his passport).
At this point in the process, Turner was just reviewing the paperwork to ensure there was nothing missing from the form. Noticing that Hunter needed supplementary ID since the passport was not sufficient, Turner says he told his coworker, Gordon Cleveland, the sales associate overseeing the sale, that he needs more documentation from Hunter.
11:30 a.m. — The attorneys sidebar after Lowell points out a discrepancy in Turner’s recounting and what appears on the federal form, as it’s displayed on the projector screen. Turner says he wrote in Hunter’s vehicle registration information, but that box is blank on the screen.
11:32 a.m. — Turner corroborates Cleveland's previous testimony where he explained why the store uses different colored ink on the forms.
“You’re not understanding how gun shop life is,” Turner later retorts when Lowell tries to narrow down the timeline between when the background check was run [6:37 p.m.] and the time of the sale [6:53 p.m.], a 16-minute time period.
“I put on my ritual robes and sat in a marble room. What do you want me to say?!” Turner exclaims. “I write slow. There’s your 16 minutes.”
11:43 p.m. — Federal prosecutor Leo Wise cross-examines Turner. Wise says Turner was subpoenaed to testify.
11:46 a.m. — Lowell redirects and tries to ask Turner about his unprompted statement that the form wasn’t “right” on the screen. The prosecution objects and the objection is sustained.
11:50 a.m. — StarQuest Shooters owner Ronald Palimere is called on to testify.
Lowell pulls up a photocopy of Hunter’s passport. Lowell says Turner brought the passport to Palimere asking if that was an acceptable form of identification. Palimere recalls saying “sure,” not thinking much of it.
Lowell then presses Palimere to see if he wanted to “hurry” the sale. Palimere says he just wanted to ensure Hunter wasn’t waiting around forever on the sales floor.
Lowell notes that Palimere is involved in “celebrity” or big sales.
Lowell also asks Palimere at one point about Cleveland’s moniker, “whale hunter.” Palimere says it’s because Cleveland sold more expensive equipment.
12:05 p.m. — The prosecution declines to cross-examine Palimere.
12:07 p.m. — The defense calls on Naomi Biden, the oldest daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle.
Lowell asks Naomi about visiting her dad and his “sober coach” at a coffee shop in LA while he was at “The View,” a luxury rehab center in California.
“He seemed the clearest since my uncle died,” Naomi says. “He seemed great. He seemed hopeful,” adding that she was “so proud” of him.
Naomi testifies that she used Hunter’s truck to move from Washington, D.C., to New York. At the time, Hunter drove her “pop’s” [a term of endearment for her grandfather, President Joe Biden] Cadillac.
Naomi testifies that she didn’t see any drug remnants or drug paraphernalia strewn about the Ford Raptor. The lock on the center console where the gun was stored was still there when she drove the car at the end of October.
12:18 p.m. — Wise cross-examines Naomi.
Wise gives Naomi a 20-page document containing her texts with Hunter in order to jog her memory.
On October 17, 2018, at 2:00 a.m., Hunter texted Naomi to switch cars. Wise wonders what Hunter was doing in the dead of night. Naomi says she doesn’t know.
Wise reviews the remaining messages where Hunter claims he is “unreachable” after much back-and-forth.
Over text, Naomi expressed dismay at Hunter’s absence with a frowny face, adding how much she misses him and just wants to spend time with her dad.
Wise asks Naomi if she was aware of what Hunter was up to at the time: meeting a “Frankie” at the hotel and sending him an access code to get into his Wells Fargo account to withdrawal cash.
“After my uncle died, things got bad,” Naomi says.
Naomi was notably “nervous” on the stand, even admitting that she was as she quietly answered questions, whispering at times.
12:40 p.m. — On re-direct, Lowell mentions how it was partly Naomi’s fault they weren’t connecting since she was in an externship at the time.
12:50 p.m. — Lunch break.
1:45 pm — The defense has no more witnesses except Hunter possibly taking the stand. Hunter's uncle Jimmy Biden, who was waiting in the witness room Friday, was supposed to testify but that is now no longer happening. Judge Noreika excuses everyone early.
Over the long weekend, the defense has to decide by Monday morning whether Hunter will answer questions under oath. If he does testify, the prosecution will have to mount its rebuttal. Chatter in the press pool says this could all end as early as Monday.
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