Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend testified Wednesday in his gun trial about finding his crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia, and jurors saw photos of the president’s son bare-chested in a bubble bath and heard about his visit to a strip club.
As the first lady sat in the front row, the courtroom grew quiet when Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter for 20 years, walked in. She testified that she discovered her husband was using drugs when she found a crack pipe in an ashtray on their porch on July 3, 2015, a day after their anniversary. When she confronted him, “he acknowledged smoking crack.” she said.
The trial, about whether he lied on a gun purchase form in 2018 when he said he wasn’t using drugs, has quickly become a highly personal and detailed tour of the mistakes and drug use of Hunter Biden, whose struggles have been tabloid fodder for years and were used publicly by Republicans, including in their stalled impeachment effort against the president.
The proceedings are unfolding as the 2024
election looms, and allies worry about the toll it will take on President Joe Biden, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son. Prosecutors argue the photos, testimony and other evidence are necessary to show Hunter Biden’s state of mind when he bought the gun.
Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase in October 2018. He’s accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
Jurors have seen the gun and the form at the center of the case, and they have heard from the former clerk who sold the weapon. The clerk, Gordon Cleveland, said he watched as Hunter Biden entered his name, address and other personal information on the form.
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