The widow of President Biden’s late son took the witness stand Thursday in Hunter Biden’s trial on federal charges he lied on federal forms about his drug use to unlawfully purchase a gun in 2018.
Hallie Biden, who was married to Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau, before his 2015 death from brain cancer, had been in a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden during the time he purchased the firearm.
Hallie Biden detailed Hunter Biden’s drug use during the period in which they were romantically involved, revealing to the jury that he had introduced her to crack cocaine.
“And who introduced you to it?” a federal prosecutor asked Hallie Biden, according to The Associated Press.
“Hunter did,” Hallie Biden replied.
“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I’m embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life,” she added.
Hallie Biden testified that when Hunter Biden smoked crack, it could leave him “agitated or high-strung, but at other times, functioning as well.”
Federal prosecutors contend that Hunter Biden’s status as a “drug addict” caused him to check “no” on a federal gun purchase form questioning whether he unlawfully used or was addicted to marijuana or other narcotics.
Hallie Biden could serve as a key witness against her brother-in-law, her testimony ranging from Hunter Biden’s drug use to her decision to dump the firearm in question outside a grocery store in Wilmington, Del., after she discovered it — a choice that precipitated the case against her late husband’s brother.
She testified Thursday that she found the gun and ammunition in the console of Hunter Biden’s truck in October 2018 and “panicked.”
“I was afraid to touch it,” Hallie Biden testified, according to The Associated Press. “I didn’t know if it was loaded.”
She said she considered hiding the gun but feared her children might find it. So, she stuffed the gun in a shopping bag and disposed of it outside an upscale grocery store near her home. Prosecutors showed surveillance footage of her tossing out the gun.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking,” she said, according to The Associated Press.
Federal prosecutors could rest their case against Hunter Biden as soon as Thursday. Then, Hunter Biden’s attorneys will have the opportunity to put on a defense case of their own.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys contend that the president’s son may have thought he was telling the truth when he checked “no” to drug addiction on the federal form. In court filings, attorney Abbe Lowell wrote that Hunter Biden had just completed an 11-day stint in rehab and was living with a sober companion when he bought the gun, contending he could “surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict.”
If convicted on all three counts, Hunter Biden faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
The president’s son faces separate charges in California for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes and filing false returns, which could go to trial in September.
President Biden was in France on Thursday marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day. First lady Jill Biden had attended Hunter Biden’s trial earlier this week, but she has now joined the president on the foreign trip. They are due back to Wilmington on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed.
