Prosecutors rest their case in Hunter Biden’s trial on gun charges


WILMINGTON, Delaware — Federal prosecutors rested their case at Hunter Biden’s trial Friday after calling a slew of witnesses who told jurors about his descent into crack cocaine addiction and his purchase of a handgun in 2018.

Biden’s attorneys are expected to put on a brief defense case that will likely wrap up early next week. The president’s son has not yet indicated if he’ll testify in his own defense.

Biden is charged with three felonies stemming from his purchase of a revolver in October 2018. Prosecutors, led by special counsel David Weiss, say that he lied on a form by claiming he wasn’t a user of controlled substances and that he possessed the weapon for 11 days in violation of a federal law barring drug users from having guns.

Before resting their case, prosecutors called their final two witnesses Friday morning.

One was Jason Brewer, an FBI forensic chemist who works at Quantico. He testified about testing residue he determined to be cocaine from a pouch where Biden allegedly kept the gun.

The other was Joshua Romig, an assistant special agent in charge at the Drug Enforcement Administration. He testified about a series of text messages that showed Biden was buying crack in 2018.

Throughout the trial, which began Monday with jury selection, Biden’s defense team has sought to highlight inconsistencies in testimony by the prosecution’s witnesses. And his defense has said that Biden had completed a rehab stint around the time he bought the Colt revolver and could have genuinely believed he was no longer an addict.

Witnesses called by prosecutors, including three of Biden’s former romantic partners, described in raw terms how his life was upended by his drug abuse after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015.

The witnesses included Zoe Kestan, who met Biden in 2017 when he paid for a private dance with her at a New York City strip club where she worked.

Kestan said she stayed in a hotel with Biden for five days and witnessed him smoking crack every 20 minutes. Nevertheless, she found him “just so charming and so nice,” she said.

On Thursday, Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow who became romantically involved with Hunter after her husband’s death, told jurors that Hunter smoked crack around her during their relationship — and she ultimately began using the drug herself.

During her testimony, prosecutors introduced text messages into evidence in which Biden said he was “smoking crack” and “waiting for a dealer” in the days after he bought the gun on Oct. 12, 2018.

Hallie also testified about finding — and later discarding — the gun in Biden’s truck that month after he parked it on her property.

In addition to the gun, Hallie said she also found remnants of crack cocaine, as well as drug paraphernalia.

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