WILMINGTON, Del. – The Biden family, including First Lady Jill Biden, was in full force at Hunter Biden’s felony firearms trial. In addition to Jill Biden, Hunter’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and his sister, Ashley Biden, will also be in attendance for the first day of his trial on federal firearms charges on Monday.
President Joe Biden will not attend the trial but rescheduled to be in Wilmington for the first day of his son’s trial. “Jill and I love our son and are proud of the man he has become,” the president said in a statement. “Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us all.”
The trial comes after a plea deal with federal investigators shockingly collapsed last year.
Biden faces three felony firearms charges, all of which focus on whether he lied on a federal firearms declaration in 2018 about whether he had a drug addiction.
The trial is expected to delve deeper into Biden’s drug use and a bizarre series of events that saw authorities recover a gun found in a trash bin at a Delaware grocery store a few weeks later.
Prepare to vote: See who’s running for president and compare their positions on key issues with our Voter Guide
Watch USA TODAY Network’s live coverage as jury selection begins in this case.
The judge begins questioning potential jurors.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika began questioning potential jurors in Hunter Biden’s gun-related trial, outlining the rules for participating in the trial, including not reading media reports.
She is seeking to select 12 jurors and four alternate jurors.
Noreika is asking potential jurors whether they can fairly review the evidence in the case, including general questions like whether they know anyone connected to the case and their thoughts on politics, law enforcement and issues surrounding addiction.
Jurors who answer “yes” to one of the selection questions will be asked further questions by the judge. Those interviews are currently taking place. Of the 50 potential jurors originally scheduled, only one did not answer “yes” to one of the selection questions, and the process is likely to take a long time.
-Xerxes Wilson
President Joe Biden supports Hunter as trial begins
President Joe Biden issued a statement Monday in support of his son as Hunter Biden’s federal firearms trial begins.
“Jill and I love our son and are so proud of the man he is,” Joe Biden said. “Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are an inspiration to us all.”
Joe Biden said he would not comment as president on pending federal litigation, but said he trusted and respected his son.
“Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I will continue to offer Hunter and his family our love and support,” Joe Biden said.
–Bert Janssen
Hunter Biden is also filing a civil lawsuit against his ex-wife over child support.
Hunter Biden isn’t just facing extensive legal trouble over gun and tax charges: Axios reported last week that a Washington court found in 2021 that he violated an agreement with his ex-wife, Kathleen Buehl, over her owing him more than $1.7 million in legal fees, spousal support and other expenses from their 2017 divorce.
Buhl and Biden’s legal battle has continued since then, with her lawyers alleging that Biden still owes her millions of dollars.
– Marina Pitovsky
Hunter Biden’s family remains close in federal trial
Hunter Biden’s family has been watching his trial on federal firearms charges closely, with his father, President Biden, remaining in Wilmington on Sunday night in preparation for the start of jury selection on Monday.
Hunter Biden arrived at the courtroom holding hands with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden; his mother, Jill, and sister, Ashley, arrived separately. Hunter Biden’s past drug use is at the center of charges that he made false statements on federal paperwork and to a firearms dealer when he bribed a man in 2018.
The two seats in the courtroom behind Hunter Biden and his legal team, where Jill and Ashley Biden sat, were filled before the jury was called into the courtroom.
more:As Trump’s trial nears end, Bidens prepare for month of legal purgatory
The family’s support contrasts somewhat with the turnout at another high-profile trial in New York of former President Donald Trump, who was convicted Thursday of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments he made to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Trump’s wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and son Barron Trump did not attend the six-week trial, although his sons Donald Jr. and Eric attended sporadically and his daughter Tiffany Trump attended closing arguments.
-Bert Janssen Esteban Parra
Hunter Biden trial seeks jurors with no ties to celebrity families
As jury selection begins in Hunter Biden’s trial on federal firearms charges, one challenge will be finding jurors without ties to the First Family of the First State.
“It’s a matter of luck whether we get a jury selected,” said Dori Jacobson, a Greenville resident not far from Biden’s residence.
Hunter Biden’s father, President Joe Biden, has always been close to Biden after serving as a senator and then vice president for decades. Potential jurors won’t be asked about their social interactions at Pep Boys, church services at St. Joseph on the Brandywine River or attending their grandchildren’s flag football games, but they will be quizzed about their family ties.
“Do you, or any member of your immediate family or close friends, know Robert Hunter Biden or his family?” is the seventh of 47 questions listed in jury selection documents.
-Ryan Cormier
more:How hard will it be to find jurors when everyone has seen Biden in Delaware?
Hunter Biden arrives in federal court on firearms charges
Hunter Biden arrived around 8:10 a.m. on Monday for the start of his trial on federal firearms charges.
His sister, Ashley Biden, arrived about 10 minutes earlier.
-Esteban Parra
more:‘Karma’ or ‘Political Prosecution’? Voters Speak Out on Hunter Biden Criminal Trial
Key moment in the trial: Was Hunter Biden drinking on October 12, 2018?
Much of Hunter Biden’s trial will center on the day in October 2018 when he bought a .38 Special revolver at a Delaware gun shop and checked “no” on a federal firearms form that asked about any drug addiction or use.
The federal drug declaration asks, “Are you unlawfully using or dependent on marijuana, any sedatives, stimulants, narcotics, or any other controlled substance?”
“At issue here is Mr. Biden’s understanding of the issue,” Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, wrote in a recent letter to the court. “Someone like Mr. Biden, who completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and has since been living with sober peers, would have been confident that he was not a present tense user or addict.”
Some drug treatment experts told USA Today that they wouldn’t consider a patient cured after 11 days of treatment, but experts said someone who has just completed treatment may consider themselves free of drug addiction.
more:Hunter Biden trial: Why his gun case hinges on a fateful day when he wasn’t using drugs
Reporters arrive early at Hunter Biden trial
By 6:45 a.m., a dozen reporters were lined up outside the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in downtown Wilmington, ready for the start of Hunter Biden’s trial this week on federal firearms charges.
Jury selection begins today, with court opening at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Three broadcasting tents were set up near the courthouse, and heavy police security was evident, with several police cars parked along North King Street, which runs along one side of the building.
A Department of Homeland Security dog paced back and forth among the rows of reporters, sniffing their bags.
The building’s namesake, the late Boggs, was a former Republican governor who narrowly lost his U.S. Senate seat to Joe Biden in 1972.
-Swapna Venugopal
Judge: No paperwork required for second gun in court
Hunter Biden, who is charged with illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while high on drugs, cannot turn over federal paperwork a second time during his trial, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika ruled Sunday.
The president’s son is accused of making false statements on an application and lying to a gun dealer about his drug use when he purchased a .38-caliber handgun in 2018 and possessed it for 11 days.
In the first document he provided to federal authorities shortly after purchasing the gun, Biden had marked an X next to a question asking if he had used or been dependent on drugs. A second document provided to investigators in 2021 was accompanied by additional information saying Biden had provided his vehicle registration when he purchased the gun, but that apparently was not the case, according to court statements.
Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, tried to question the gun store owner about the second form, the indictment against Biden, arguing that he had apparently filled it out incorrectly. But the prosecution argued that the second form was “irrelevant” and would confuse jurors. Noreika agreed, striking the form out of the trial in one of two rulings against the defense on Sunday.
-Xerxes Wilson
more:People and places central to Hunter Biden trial
Judge bans defense expert on drug addiction from trial
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika barred testimony from one of Hunter Biden’s proposed expert witnesses, whose views the defense wanted on how people struggling with drug addiction see themselves.
The defense called Elly Aoun, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, to testify about how people who enter rehabilitation programs sometimes deny their addiction and think they are no longer addicted after completing the program.
But on Sunday, Judge Noreika barred Aoun from testifying as a witness, saying the defense had failed to properly brief the prosecution on what expert opinion he would provide – one of two rulings against him.
Biden’s defense also called for forensic toxicologist Michael Coyer to testify to answer questions about white residue found on a brown leather gun pouch that tested positive for cocaine years after it was seized by police. Judge Noreika ruled that he would hear from Coyer without the jury present before deciding whether to allow him to testify.
-Xerxes Wilson
Who is Hunter Biden?
Hunter Biden is President Joe Biden’s youngest son. He is facing three felony firearms charges in Delaware.
The first two relate specifically to paperwork Biden filled out to buy a gun in 2018, accusing him of lying about the drug use on that form.
The third charge relates to Biden possessing a firearm at a time when he was allegedly an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance.
– Xerxes Wilson
Could Hunter Biden go to prison?
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, but Biden would likely receive a shorter sentence if convicted — making it unusual for a first-time offender like Biden to receive the maximum sentence.
– Xerxes Wilson
