Joe Biden’s son is accused of lying about illegal drug use when buying a gun and faces up to 25 years in prison. US president said he will not pardon his son if he is convicted.
Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law testified on Thursday that she took and threw away his gun out of fear of his spiralling addiction, potentially bolstering prosecutors’ case that US President Joe Biden’s son broke a law barring illegal drug users from owning firearms.
Jurors in the first criminal trial of a US president’s child saw surveillance camera footage of Hallie Biden tossing Hunter Biden’s gun in a supermarket rubbish bin, as well as texts where she said she feared for his life.
“Check yourself into a local rehab hunter, this has all got to stop,” Hallie Biden wrote in an October 2018 text message soon after Hunter Biden bought the gun.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to three criminal charges accusing him of failing to disclose as required his use of illegal drugs when he bought the Colt Cobra revolver and of illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days before Hallie Biden took it.
The trial in Wilmington, Delaware, federal court follows another historic first – last week’s criminal conviction of Donald Trump, the first US president to be found guilty of a felony. Trump is the Republican challenger to Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the November 5 election.
