Hunter Biden’s ex and Beau’s widow Hallie testifies in gun trial: Live updates

When Hallie Biden discovered Hunter Biden’s gun, she said she “panicked” because she didn’t want him to hurt himself or her two children to find it and hurt themselves.

Eventually, she decided to put it in a leather pouch and throw it in the garbage of a grocery store.

“I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was just panicking,” she testified.

On October 23, 2018, Hallie Biden found the gun Hunter purchased in his truck.

She told jurors she had not been able to contact Hunter for “weeks” and that when she saw him that morning he looked “exhausted.” After he went to sleep, she went to his truck to clean it out.

Hallie said she found, “trash, clothes, some remnants of crack” and drug paraphernalia in addition to the gun.

Hunter Biden introduced Hallie Biden to crack cocaine in the summer of 2018 while she was visiting him in Los Angeles, she told the juror.

“It was a terrible experience that I went through and I’m embarrassed and I’m ashamed of that period of my life,” she testified.

Hallie is testifying under an immunity deal she struck with prosecutors.

Hallie Biden testified she witnessed Hunter Biden smoking crack cocaine “occasionally”, as late as July 2018.

She told jurors she saw Hunter using drugs in his Washington DC apartment and the house they rented in Annapolis, Maryland.

Hallie testified Hunter would become “agitated” or “high strung” when using crack cocaine but could also function at times.

She said she would accompany him to drug deals sometimes.

Hallie Biden testified that she found Hunter Biden’s drugs sometime in 2015 or 2016 when they first began dating.

She told jurors she didn’t know what it was at first and had to Google search it. She said she found out it was crack cocaine.

Hunter later admitted to her it was crack – a similar story that Kathleen Buhle testified about.

Hallie said she and Hunter had a romantic relationship after Beau Biden, her ex-husband and Hunter’s brother, died in 2015. She said it was “gradual”.

Prosecutors have called Hallie Biden to testify.

Hallie was married to Beau Biden – Hunter’s brother – from 2022 until Beau died in 2015. Together they had two children, Natalie Biden and Robert Biden II.

Between 2016 and 2019 Hallie was romantically involved with Hunter. During that time, she witnessed Hunter’s drug use and discovered the firearm at the center of the trial.

Lowell is focusing on the language in the federal gun form that Hunter Biden filled out – specifically between the distinction of “have” and “are”.

The question asks a person “are you an unlawful user” or addicted to illegal drugs.

Lowell says prosecutors must prove that Biden was using drugs when he bought the revolver. Previous testimony from Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, indicated that Biden was not always aware he was addicted to drugs.

Lowell says that the moment he bought the revolver, Biden did not think he was addicted.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, is continuing cross-examining the man who sold Biden the firearm in October 2018 in Wilmington.

Gordon Cleveland, the former gun shop employee, is on the stand answering Lowell’s questions.

Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law and former girlfriend, has arrived at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware.

She is expected to be the prosecution’s next witness after Gordon Cleveland.

Court is back in session but Judge Maryellen Noreika is presiding over some procedural matters related to evidence that the defense wants to introduce without having shared it with prosecutors ahead of time.

The evidence has to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop and some texts.

Judge Noreika said she was “confused” by their decision to introduce evidence late.