Jurors heard unsparing accounts of Hunter Biden's drug use in his own words on Tuesday as his trial on gun charges, the first ever prosecution of a child of a sitting US president, got underway. Hunter Biden, 54, the only surviving son of President Joe Biden, is charged with lying about his illegal drug use when buying a handgun in 2018, a felony. He is also charged with illegal possession of the firearm, which he had for just 11 days in October 2018.
"No one is above the law -- it doesn't matter who you are and what your name is," prosecutor Derek Hines said in his opening statement at the federal trial being held in the Biden family stronghold of Wilmington. "Robert H. Biden chose to illegally own a firearm" when "he was a user of crack and a drug addict," Hines added, as the court was shown an image of the Colt Cobra revolver at the heart of the case.
The prosecutor played extracts from Hunter Biden's memoir "Beautiful Things" recorded by Biden himself, in which he recalled his descent into addiction when he would desperately seek out crack cocaine. "I cooked (crack) and smoked. I cooked and smoked," said the extract played to the court, taken from his audiobook.
First Lady Jill Biden was in court again Tuesday and had a serious expression as the extracts were played. Hunter Biden's lawyer said that he "was not using drugs when he bought that gun" and that it "was never loaded, never carried, never used" during the 11 days he owned it. Biden, a Yale-trained lawyer and lobb.