HUNTER Biden returned to court for day six of his gun trial as the First Son declined to testify in his defense.
The trial of the president’s embattled son is heading into its final stretch as the defense rested its case after calling only three witnesses.
ReutersHunter Biden returned to federal court on Monday for day six of his gun trial[/caption]
GettyHunter’s trial is entering its final days, with closing arguments expected to begin on Monday[/caption]
APPresident Joe Biden is expected to be in Wilmington, Delaware, for most of the day on Monday before returning to the White House[/caption]
Hunter, 54, arrived at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, at around 8 am, accompanied by his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.
First Lady Jill Biden was also in attendance for the final days of her stepson’s trial.
President Joe Biden, who will spend most of the day in Wilmington before departing to the White House on Monday afternoon, is not expected to attend his son’s trial.
The president, 81, confirmed to ABC News that he would not pardon his son if convicted.
During the first week of the trial, the jury heard testimony from three of Hunter’s exes and his oldest daughter, Naomi, 30.
He acknowledged smoking crack.
Kathleen Buhle.
Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, told the courtroom in explicit detail how she uncovered crack pipes and drug paraphernalia in their home in Washington DC and her ex-husband’s pickup truck.
Buhle, who was married to Hunter from 1993 to 2017, first learned Hunter back on drugs in July 2015 after finding a crack pipe in an ashtray on the porch of their home.
“He acknowledged smoking crack,” Buhle, 55, said, describing Hunter’s demeanor while using drugs as “angry and short-tempered.”
Buhle testified how she would routinely search Hunter’s vehicle to protect her daughters.
At times, Buhle said she would find broken crack pipes, white powder, white crystal remnants, pipe cleaning products, and other drug paraphernalia, including in 2018 when he was suspected of buying the Colt Cobra .38 revolver.
Hunter’s ex-lover and former sex worker, Zoe Kestan, also detailed for the jury his shocking drug use.
Kestan, who goes by the name “Weedsl*t,” testified how Hunter smoked crack up to every 20 minutes from the moment he woke up and had wild hotel binges.
She told the courtroom how she observed Hunter chipping off small crystals from an enormous rock of crack, which she described as the size of a Ping-Pong ball.
The 30-year-old former sex worker said she first met the “charming” Hunter in December 2017 at a strip club in New York, and the two started an off-and-on relationship.
Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother, Beau, told jurors how Hunter introduced her to crack during their brief relationship.
“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I’m embarrassed, and I’m ashamed of that period of my life,” a regretful Hallie, 50, said.
The mother-of-two described her relationship with Hunter as “volatile” and “on and off.”
Hallie said that Hunter would be unreachable for weeks at a time and that she would search through his truck for drugs or alcohol to shield her children.
She went into detail about the October 23, 2018, date when she uncovered the revolver in a leather pouch inside his pickup truck.
“I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of it,” she told the jury.
The federal courtroom was shown a surveillance video of Hallie disposing of the gun in a trash can at a grocery store about a mile away from her home.
The video showed Hallie exiting her BMW as she arrived in the parking lot of Janseen’s Market in Delaware on October 23, 2018.
Hallie is pictured with a purple-colored shopping bag in her hand, which she later disposes of in the trash can.
“I was afraid to touch it. I didn’t know if it was loaded,” she said on the stand.
“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was panicking.”
‘HE CROSSED THE LINE’
A second clip showed Hallie returning to the grocery store and searching for the bag inside the trash.
“I’ll take the blame,” Hallie texted Hunter as she called the police and filed a report on the missing gun.
Hunter is charged with three firearms-related charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors accused Hunter of purchasing a gun in October 2018 and lying in a federal firearms form when he wrote that he was not an active drug user.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden, prosecutor Derek Hines said during opening statements.
“He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check. The defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here.”
Hunter’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, argued that the gun purchase was an “impulse buy.”
If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.