Hunter Biden trial highlights: FBI agent testifies about Hunter Biden's drug use and large cash withdrawals (2024)

Court wraps for the day

Lowell started his cross-examination by going through Hunter Biden’s text exchanges with drug dealers. Lowell asked Jensen the dates of those texts — she said the majority of them were in Jan. 2019 and the following months.

So these exchanges were months after the gun sale, Lowell asked? Yes, Jensen confirmed.

Lowell also appeared to be trying to draw the jury’s attention to times in Hunter’s life that he wasn’t using drugs. The excerpts you selected reflected the “periods” of time when Hunter was using crack, there were also periods where he wasn’t using, Lowell said.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

The prosecution ended its questioning of Erika Jensen, the FBI agent. Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell began cross-examining her around 4 p.m. ET.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

The prosecution then displayed a video from December, obtained from Hunter’s phone, showing a shirtless Hunter Biden holding what Jensen identified as a crack pipe.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Hines also read through messages between Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden on Oct. 23, 2018, the day she discovered the gun.

“Did you take that from me…are you insane?” asked Hunter. “This is no game. And you’re being totally irresponsible and unhinged.” In later messages he added “tell me now” and “this is very very serious." Hallie responded, “Call me!!!!”

Lowell objected to Hines’ reading of messages from Hallie Biden when she is set to testify herself, but Noreika overruled Lowell’s objection.

Prosecutor Derek Hines displayed a message that Hunter Biden allegedly sent to Hallie Biden, his late brother Beau Biden's widow, on Oct. 13, 2018, that indicated he was “waiting for a dealer” in Wilmington.

In another message the following day, Hunter Biden allegedly said he was sleeping in a car smoking crack.

The defense said earlier that Hunter Biden would lie to Hallie Biden, with whom he had a relationship after Beau Biden's death, about his whereabouts because he didn’t want to see her.

Hines brought up emails between the gun shop and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regarding Hunter Biden’s background check.

As part of this section, the prosecutor introduced the form that Hunter Biden filled out when he purchased a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018. Hines showed the jury a magnified view of question 11E, in which Hunter Biden marked "No" with an X, indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought the revolver. A response from the ATF confirmed that Hunter Biden passed the background check.

Jurors were also shown a copy of the receipt for the gun sale from StarQuest Shooters and Survival Supply. Hunter Biden’s total purchase came to $886.81, which he paid with $900 cash.

Hines also introduced a cash withdrawal slip from Oct. 12, 2018 — the day of the gun purchase — for $5,000.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Through Jensen, the FBI agent, prosecutors entered bank statements from September, October and November 2018 into evidence. The bank statements listed cash withdrawals across three accounts: Hunter Biden’s personal account, Owasco LLC, and another account associated with Owasco.

These bank statements, Jensen said, indicated that there were large cash withdrawals nearly every day of September, October and November 2018, totaling $151,640.45.

“That was almost $50,000 a month in cash withdrawals?” Hines asked Jensen. Jensen responded affirmatively.

The prosecution entered into evidence several invoices from “The View,” a Detox Center in Southern California. The invoices amounted to 12 days of stabilization services and sober companionship at the end of August and early September 2018.

Prosecutor Derek Hines noted that this was 40 days before Hunter Biden's gun purchase. Hines also noted Hunter Biden said in his audiobook, “I stayed clean for about two weeks.”

Hines then entered into evidence an Alaska Airlines subpoena response, indicating Hunter Biden flew from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) on the evening of Oct. 5, landing in Philadelphia early on Oct. 6.

Hines noted this was one week before the gun purchase. Prosecutors played another recording from Hunter Biden’s “Beautiful Things," from the chapter “Lost Highway.” In the book, Hunter Biden says he was coming back to the East Coast "with the hope of getting clean.”

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

FBI agent Erika Jensen is continuing to be used as a vehicle to introduce evidence, including text messages from Hunter Biden’s laptop.

“I am so sorry,” Zoe Kestan texted Hunter Biden and in an apparent reference to drug paraphernalia. “Is there anywhere else to get Brillo Pads?” Kestan was also asking Hunter Biden for money. “I need more Chore boy but regardless come back and yes,” Hunter Biden responded over text.

Jensen, the FBI agent on the witness stand, proceeded to walk through with Hines a series of messages between Hunter Biden and people the prosecution identified as drug dealers from April 2018 through July 2018. Several of those messages appeared to be coordinating meetups with those drug dealers.

One exchange on WhatsApp included photos between Hunter Biden and an account with the name “Clifford O’Brien.” One photo sent from Biden's phone showed white powder on a scale. Biden then complained that he was being ripped off with a 60% markup, while Clifford O’Brien defended himself by saying he always had Biden's back, referring to him as “family.”

Another meetup was with a dealer known as “Killa Cam.”

The last exchange from this chunk of messages included an apparent deal arrangement with a dealer named Michael, for 10 grams for $600.

Jensen told the prosecution that there were 18,000 pages of messages, photos and videos contained in the PDF file summarizing the data they obtained from the phone, tablet and laptop. All of that was given to the defense.

A much smaller share — 75 pages — of messages relevant to this trial is included in a summary chart that the government is introducing as Exhibit 18.

Those 75 pages, Jensen says, contain evidence of Hunter Biden’s drug addiction, drug use and possession of a firearm. The chart is being displayed for the jurors without objection from the defense.

The chart contains messages and data obtained from the search warrant for iCloud data obtained from Apple and from the laptop.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Prosecutor Derek Hines introduced the laptop to the jury, drawing excited whispers from the gallery, though it's not clear that any of the jurors understood the significance of Hunter’s laptop.

Hines handed FBI agent Jensen the physical laptop (a Macbook Pro 13) in an evidence bag and asked her to explain how the FBI authenticated the laptop and extracted Hunter’s data. The data — WhatsApp messages, iMessages and text messages — contained evidence of Hunter’s addiction, she said.

Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, began shaking her head as soon as Hines held up the laptop and at times exchanged whispers with lawyer Kevin Morris, seated next to her. She continued to shake her head as Jensen explained how the FBI extracted data from the laptop and what the data showed.

Hines also introduced as evidence an emailed invoice for $85 that Hunter had received from The Mac Shop, the repair shop where he dropped off the laptop.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Hunter Biden’s laptop, the one of much discussion and controversy that was obtained via FBI subpoena from “The Mac Shop,” was handed to witness FBI agent Erika Jensen. Jensen confirmed its authenticity.

“This is the laptop that was recovered from the computer store,” she said. When asked how she was able to confirm the laptop's authenticity, Jensen said the serial number on the back of the laptop matches the serial number provided in Apple Inc.’s subpoena response for records.

Jensen appeared to be making a point of looking at the jury while she explained the concept of iCloud data and how the FBI obtains the data via warrants. The jurors appeared engaged — a few were taking notes, but most simply listened. Hunter was wearing glasses and appeared to be taking notes when not whispering with his lawyers.

The laptop is the subject of the lawsuit Hunter Biden filed against Garrett Ziegler, the former Trump aide who attended court today. In his lawsuit, Hunter Biden accused Ziegler and his company of breaking multiple laws in an effort to create an online database of 128,000 emails attributed to Biden.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

The trial resumed at 2 p.m., following a lunch break.

Prosecutors are continuing with the FBI agent's testimony about the audiobook excerpts. We are on Chapter 9 currently.

First lady Jill Biden has departedthe courthouse during the lunch break.

The trial went on a lunch break as of 12:50 p.m. ET.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

First lady Jill Biden, sitting behind the defense table, appears to be looking at the exhibit display screen during several of the excerpts and following along as Hunter’s voice narrates his experience of substance abuse. At other times she appears to be looking directly at Hunter and over at the jury box — which is off screen of the overflow feed.

The government seems to be about halfway through the excerpts they have selected.

The main witness today is, in a sense, Hunter Biden himself, through his audiobook.

Prosecutor Derek Hines continued to use FBI agent Erika Jensen’s testimony to introduce copious excerpts of Biden’s memoir in audiobook form.

The excerpts have included his self-described “superpower” of being able to buy crack in any town anywhere. They also have included Biden’s discussion of how “walking into a high crime neighborhood and buying crack was like playing Russian roulette,” sometimes with five bullets in the chamber.

Hunter Biden is flipping through pages of a binder. Several jurors are taking notes.

Prosecutors had FBI agent Erika Jensen go through passages from Hunter Biden's memoir where he discusses his addiction and times that he had smoked crack.

Prosecutors highlighted sections from the book for the jury and played Hunter’s narration of those passages from his audiobook.

Jensen also authenticated bank statements from Hunter Biden's Wells Fargo account that show ATM withdraws in April 2019 to prove where he was during that time, including in Washington, D.C., and California.

Under direct examination, Erika Jensen began by saying this July will mark her 20th year as an FBI agent. She said she investigates a variety of criminal matters for the FBI and was assigned to Hunter Biden's case in the fall of 2023.

There was a dramatic scene in the hallway during the brief morning break, when Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden, approached former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler as he was about to walk to the courtroom. Hunter Biden sued Ziegler over an online database of emails attributed to the president's son.

She got close to him and said in a loud emotional voice and gestured toward him, pointing her finger at him: “You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s---” and then walked away.

FBI agent Erika Jensen took the stand at 11:35 a.m. At the beginning of her testimony, prosecutor Derek Hines asked her biographical questions.

Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell walked jurors through the day of Oct. 23, when Hallie Biden found the gun, put it in a bag that she had taken from her house and dropped it in a dumpster behind a high-end grocery store.

The bag was then found, Lowell explained, by Edward Banner, who was going through the trash and took it home. In a box at Banner’s home, police later found Hunter Biden’s gun and a second gun Banner said he was saving for a friend.

Lowell made clear that from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, Hunter never loaded the gun, carried it around or used it. When police took possession of the gun and the pouch it was in, Lowell said, they found white residue that tested positive for cocaine.

It seems clear Lowell is throwing Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's widow, under the bus here. “Hunter put thegun in the locked box of the Ford Truck,” Lowell said. “Hallie put it in the bag.”

“That’s the story,” Lowell said.

Opening statements have concluded in the trial, and the court took a break for 10-15 minutes.

Lowell said that Gordon Cleveland, the gun dealer that the government plans to call as a witness, referred to himself as a "whale hunter" and wanted to make the firearm sale to Hunter Biden.

Lowell said Cleveland was willing to skirt protocol because Hunter Biden didn't have a driver's license but a passport without an address. Lowell says the jury will see that the ID box was not filled out by Biden, and, more importantly, that the boxes were already checked “no,” including the box in question about the purchaser’s potential substance abuse.

“A sale is a sale, and that was their goal that day,” said Lowell.

After showing jurors a chart of eight liquor store receipts from around the time of Hunter Biden's gun purchase, defense lawyer Abbe Lowell appeared to pre-emptively push back on some of the texts that prosecutors plan to enter as evidence.

Lowell said Hunter Biden sometimes lied to Hallie Biden about his whereabouts because he didn't want to see her.

Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell told jurors that what the prosecution can’t show is that Hunter Biden went to the store with the intent to buy a gun and that he considered himself an addict at the time.

Lowell referred to the jury selection question about people’s experiences with addiction, saying that jurors might recognize Biden’s “deep state of denial” about his drug use.

Lowell mentioned the traumas of the Biden family: Hunter Biden's mother, Neilia, and sister, Naomi, died in a car crash in 1972 that Hunter and brother Beau survived; and in 2015, Beau Biden died of cancer.

Hunter Biden had periods of sobriety, Lowell said, claiming that he did not consider himself to be addicted at the time of the gun purchase.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell began his opening statement at 10:24 a.m.

“Hunter bought a small handgun,” Lowell said. “It was never loaded.” He added, "He never used it.”

Lowell suggests that prosecutors left out the word “knowingly” from the slide that described the charges to the jury.

Hunter “knowingly violated the law” is what prosecutors have to prove, Lowell said. Lowell stressed that it’s about what Hunter Biden thought at the time in 2018, and what his state of mind was when he walked into the gun store.

Hines said they will lay out that Hunter Biden flew back from California on Oct. 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.” Prosecutors will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, Hines said, including from Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter's brother, Beau.

“Hallie will testify about her own crack use” with Hunter, Hines said, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.”

Hines told jurors that Hunter Biden described his behavior at the time as smoking “every 15 minutes, seven days a week.”

He boasted in his book of having a “superpower” for finding crack anywhere, the prosecutor said.

Hines also showed jurors a message Biden sent to a drug dealer: "Can you get baby powder? The really soft stuff.”

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent will testify as a witness during the trial and will say that baby powder referred to cocaine, Hines said.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

The prosecution gave their full intended witness list:

Erika Jensen, an FBI agent

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife

Zoe Kestan, who says she had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden

Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's wife whom Hunter Biden had a relationship with after Beau's death

Gordon Cleveland, a Starquest Shooters gun store employee

DSP Corp. Joshua Marley

DSP Lt. Millard Greer

Forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer

And possibly, DEA Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Romig

During opening statements, prosecutor Derek Hines told jurors that they would hear from a witness who had a romantic relationship with Hunter and observed him smoking crack “every 15 minutes.” Her name is Zoe Kestan, Hines said.

Here is how she was identified in pretrial filings:

“Witness 2 was previously in a romantic relationship with the defendant between approximately December 2017 and October 2018. During the course of their relationship, Witness 2 observed the defendant using crack cocaine frequently—every 20 minutes except when he slept. Witness 2 visited the defendant in Massachusetts when he was in rehab in the fall of 2018 (after his gun possession) and over the course of 3 days, she observed the defendant smoking crack cocaine every 20 minutes.”

Hines told jurors about how Hallie Biden — the widow of the president's late son, Beau Biden, who began a relationship with Hunter Biden after Beau's death — found and disposed of Hunter’s gun. She is expected to testify later in the trial.

Hunter got Hallie Biden to use drugs as well, Hines said, but she was clean by the time Hunter purchased the gun.

Hines also presented some evidence that Hunter was still using drugs around the time of the gun purchase and knew that he was an addict. Hines displayed a text from Hunter to Hallie Biden the day after the gun purchase, saying he was behind Blue Rocks Stadium (a minor league baseball team in Wilmington, Delaware) waiting for a dealer.

Derek Hines for the prosecution says they will lay out that Hunter Biden flew back from California on October 5 with the hopes of “getting clean, not staying clean.”

They will show his continued addiction through messages and testimony, including from Hallie Biden. “Hallie will testify about her own crack use,” with Hunter, said Hines, acknowledging that the testimony will be “embarrassing.”

Hines revealed that both Hallie Biden and Zoe Kestan will be testifying under immunity agreements.

They will also call Kathleen Buhle, who did not use drugs herself. Kathleen will not be testifying under any immunity agreement.

Laying out the three charges against Hunter, Hines emphasized that on the third count, concerning his possession of the gun for 11 days, Hunter did not get rid of the gun by choice. “The only reason he had the gun for 11 days is because Hallie took it from him,” he said.

Prosecutor DerekHines said that Gordon Cleveland, an employee of Starquest Shooters who sold Hunter Biden a gun, will be testifying in this trial about his experience.

The form that Hunter Biden filled out to purchase the gun was shown to jurors, and Hines walked through each part of the form.

Dealers rely on the honesty of the person filling out the form, Hines said.

Prosecutor Derek Hines began opening statements around 9:57 a.m. by saying, “No one is above the law. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what your name is.”

Defendants are tried 'because of the choices they made,” he said, adding that Hunter Biden "chose to illegally own a firearm" and that "we’re also here because he chose to lie."

Proceedings restarted as of 9:57 a.m. The jury is in attendance and Judge Noreika is running through standard questions for the jury, such as reiterating that they didn't do any research or discuss the case overnight.

Hunter Biden returned to the courtroom at 9:49 a.m., a few minutes after his lawyer Abbe Lowell. During the break, Lowell chatted briefly with prosecutor Derek Hines at the government’s table and conferred with Hunter Biden after he returned to sit at the defense table.

The trial's opening statements are about to begin. Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell will deliver his statement for the defense and Derek Hines, a senior assistant special counsel, will make remarks for the prosecution.

It’s still quiet inside the courtroom, but it’s unclear why proceedings are still delayed. The parties re-entered the courtroom at 9:37 a.m. as the sidebar over objections to opening statements appeared to wrap up.

Hunter Biden has left the courtroom, accompanied by his lawyers and wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden. They are huddling in a conference room just outside the courtroom.

First lady Jill Biden, Ashley Biden, who is Hunter's half-sister, and lawyer Kevin Morris remain in the first row behind the defense table.

One of the jurors dropped out overnight because she lives an hour away and is unemployed and can’t afford to make the trip every day. This was juror No. 16, seated in seat 3.

Before 9 a.m., Judge Noreika began going over rulings on what evidence can be admitted, indicating that specific texts, photos and portions of Hunter Biden’s memoir, "Beautiful Things," will likely be on display in court today.

Several photos that place Hunter Biden in specific locations on certain dates could be among the evidence. For example, there was mention of a photo of him in Malibu, California, and of a photo of his back that places him in Wilmington on a certain day.

Noreika did not initially understand why the photos were relevant: “Can you give me a hint why I care what he’s doing in Malibu?” she asked. Prosecutor Derek Hines said it’s about putting Hunter in a particular place.

Not all jurors are in court yet, Noreika said, so proceedings are delayed until they arrive.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Opening statements will begin this morning in the federal criminal trial of Hunter Biden.

Opening statements are expected to begin shortly after 9 a.m. ET, with prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss‘ office expected to lay out their case against President Joe Biden’s son in federal court in Wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state, Delaware.

Hunter Biden is charged with three countstied to possession of a gun while using narcotics.Two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.

First lady Jill Biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:46 a.m. for opening statements in her son's gun trial. She also attended court proceedings yesterday for jury selection.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Hunter Biden arrived at the courthouse at 8:33 a.m., where his lawyers and prosecutors are set to deliver opening statements.

A jury was selected in the federal trial of Hunter Biden on three gun-related charges. President Biden’s son is accused of falsely claiming on a form when he purchased a handgun that he was not addicted to or an active user of drugs. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

The Biden family members seated in a court in Wilmington, Delaware, for the start of Hunter Biden’s gun trial yesterday share many of the hardships as the jurors who will weigh the fate of the president’s son. Hunter Biden is himself a former drug addict, on trial accused of illegal gun possession and making false statements. He is divorced and remarried. He has experienced death, as when his brother died of a brain tumor in 2015 and when his biological mother and younger sister died in a car crash when he was 2 years old.

Hunter Biden is also the president’s son, a distinction that was impossible to ignore as, time and again, jurors name-dropped members of the Biden family during jury selection or coyly conceded that, yes, they had once donated to a political campaign — and yes — it had been to the “Bidens.”

Peering over peach-colored eyeglasses, Hunter Biden sat upright as dozens of potential jurors filed through U.S District Judge Maryellen Noreika’s court during an at times grueling selection process. Noon had passed when Hunter’s lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, gently asked, “For the schedule, are we thinking, I forget if there was supposed to be a lunch break today or not?”

Seated behind him were not only the attorneys, reporters and sketch artists who typically fill the courtroom in high-profile cases, but also first lady Jill Biden, who embraced her son, his half-sister and even his son-in-law.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from Wilmington, Del.

Prosecutor Derek Hines serves as senior assistant special counsel in Weiss’ office. Before joining the special counsel’s team, Hines was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he also served in the narcotics and organized crime unit.

Hines also previously served under then-U.S. Attorney Robert Hur in Maryland — who would later conduct an investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents — and worked at the law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP.

Prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss's office are expected to lay out their case against President Joe Biden’s son in federal court in Wilmington, the largest city in the family’s home state of Delaware.

Prosecutors said their first witness will be FBI special agent Erika Jensen. According to a government court filing in the case, Jensen will introduce some of the prosecutors’ evidence, including text messages they say show Hunter Biden was using crack in the months before and after the gun purchase.

Hunter Biden facesthree countstied to possession of a gun while using narcotics.

Two of the counts accuse him of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver in October of 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.

The indictment said Biden certified on a federally mandated form “that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”

He’s pleaded not guilty.

A jury of 12 people and four alternate jurors were selected in thefederal gun caseagainstHunter Bidenin Delaware, paving the way for opening statements to begin this morning.

The panel was selected more quickly than expected, after just one day of jury selection Monday. The jurors were sworn in at 4:20 p.m. ET. The jury is made up six men and six women, and all of the alternates are women.

Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, faces three countstied to possession of a gun while using narcotics.He pleaded not guilty.

He was joined in court by first lady Jill Biden, who turned 73 on Monday. It was unclear whether any of the potential jurors noticed her where she was sitting in the audience next to Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen. It is the first time the child of a sitting president has faced a criminal trial.

Read the full story here.