Hunter Biden gun trial recap: Jurors hear from Hallie Biden, man who found trashed gun

Testimony at Hunter Biden's federal firearms trial Wednesday featured some of those once close to the president's son − and Thursday revealed even more.

Hallie Biden, widow of the late Beau Biden and Hunter's ex-lover, took the stand Thursday morning to testify about Hunter Biden's drug use − and her own − while they were romantically involved. Hallie Biden is key to the trial, as she threw away the gun Hunter Biden purchased in October 2018 at a Delaware grocery store, only to go back and try to retrieve it later.

The whole incident is what prompted Delaware State Police to get involved, and ultimately, what prompted a closer look at the gun purchase.

She told jurors Thursday that she is "ashamed" for that time in her life in which she used crack cocaine after being introduced to it by Hunter Biden.

“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I am embarrassed, and I am ashamed and I regret that period of my life,” she told the jury.

Here's a recap of what happened Thursday during the federal trial:

Prosecution to finish case Friday; Will Hunter Biden testify?

Prosecutor Derek Hines said the government will wrap his case with two law enforcement witnesses tomorrow.

Then it will be over to the defense. Lowell said they are still deciding what witnesses they feel are necessary.

He said after those "two or three" witnesses, they will decide whether Hunter Biden will testify.

He said, "no matter what," the defense case will close its case Monday.

Man who found Hunter Biden's trashed gun said he’d collect recyclables as money-making hobby

Edward Banner, 80, worked for General Motors for 40 years before retiring and finding himself at the center of a national drama.

He said he developed a hobby of collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles from trash cans. Sometimes, he said, he’d take them to New York and at one time, was getting anywhere between 25 to 75 cents a pound for them.

He said he only does aluminum now.

“I don’t know nothing about plastic now,” he said.

Prosecutors showed him a video depicting a man rummaging through the garbage at the grocery store where Hallie Biden threw away Hunter Biden’s gun.

“It sure looks like me,” he said before describing finding the revolver.

--Xerxes Wilson

Man who found Hunter Biden's gun called to stand

The man who found Hunter Biden's gun after it was thrown in the trash at a local grocery store is the next witness called to the stand.

--Xerxes Wilson

Former State Police officer details finding Hunter Biden’s gun

After Hallie Biden threw Hunter Biden’s gun in the trash, she returned to retrieve it and found it missing.

It took State Police days to locate the man who had retrieved it from the trash.

Former State Police Lt. Millard Greer told the jury that he eventually located the man and confronted him. He said he told him that someone threw something away that they were not supposed to.

“A .38 special,” Greer said the man replied.

He said the man took him back to his home where he had stashed the gun.  Here is a copy of Millard's Police report:

[3:36 PM] Wilson, Xerxes

Here's a copy of the Millard's Police report: https://www.scribd.com/document/739034939/Janssen-s-Police-Report

--Xerxes Wilson

President Biden says he wouldn’t pardon his son if he is convicted

President Joe Biden said he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden, who is on trial for federal gun charges, according to a wide-ranging exclusive interview with ABC News.

ABC anchor David Muir, interviewing President Biden in France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, asked whether he would accept the outcome of his son’s trial.

“Yes,” the president said.

Muir also asked if he would rule out a pardon for his son.

“Yes,” the president said.

--Bart Jansen

Delaware State Police officer testifies

Joshua Marley of Delaware State Police testified that he received the report of the missing gun and responded to the grocery store.

He followed up at the gun shop to determine the gun's serial number and reported it in a national database as missing.

He said after his initial review of the video at the grocery store and discussion of the gun with Hunter Biden there, he passed on the investigation to Millard Greer of Delaware State Police is expected to be the next witness.

On cross-examination, he testified that he did not speak to Hallie Biden at the store and discussed how other officers were also involved in the investigation.

--Xerxes Wilson

Cross-examination of Hallie Biden ends

Across two hours of cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell painstakingly took Hallie Biden through the events the night before and the morning she found Hunter Biden’s gun.

He seemed to emphasize that she could not remember the exact times or the exact sequence of events leading up to her discovering the gun. This prompted Lowell to introduce a series of text messages seeking to refresh her memory and several objections from prosecutors.

Lowell also pressed her on whether she found drugs near the gun.

Under questioning, she said she was not certain that what she saw in his car was drugs and couldn’t remember any exact paraphernalia.

When prosecutors began their redirect, she told Leo Wise she remarried last week and that her husband was in the courtroom gallery. He asked her whether his frequent looks his direction affected her testimony.

“No, just support,” she said.

--Xerxes Wilson

Court breaks with Hallie Biden still on the stand

Court broke for lunch about 12:45 p.m. with Hallie Biden still on the stand.

Much of the late-morning cross-examination centered on establishing when Hunter Biden was with Hallie Biden, the specifics of which she did not remember.

Her cross-examination will continue into the afternoon.

--Isabel Hughes

Hallie Biden says she didn’t see Hunter Biden use drugs in early October

On cross-examination, Hallie Biden told the jury she didn’t see Hunter Biden use drugs from when he returned to Delaware in early October through when she trashed his gun later that month.

This is part of a defense strategy that seeks to convince the jury Hunter Biden was in a period of recovery when he bought the gun in early October and therefore didn’t knowingly lie on the form central to the case.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hunter Biden's defense begins questioning of Hallie Biden

Prosecutors ended their questioning of Hallie Biden with a text she sent to Hunter Biden in late October 2018, when she told Hunter that she found a leather pouch with a stem in it inside her home beside her child.

She confirmed sending the text. Now defense attorney Abbe Lowell will begin his cross-examination.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hunter Biden calls Hallie Biden 'insane' for trashing gun

Hallie Biden described for the jury how Hunter Biden confronted her over getting rid of the revolver 11 days after he bought it.

“Did you take that from me Hallie? Are you insane … ” Hunter Biden said in a text the day after she threw it in a grocery store trash can.

“The [expletive] FBI Hallie. It’s hard for me to believe anyone is that stupid,” Hunter Biden said in a text. “Do you want me dead?” he asked in a later text.

She apologized.

“I’m sorry. I just want you to be safe. That was not safe,” Hallie Biden replied in a text.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden discusses text message exchange with Hunter Biden

Prosecutors walked Hallie Biden through a series of text messages the day after Hunter Biden purchased the gun.

They discuss plans and eventually, she loses contact with him.

“Why won’t you answer my calls,” she texts him.

He replies, stating that he was behind a baseball stadium in Wilmington “waiting on a dealer named Mookie.”

The next day, she texts him stating that she tried calling him “500 times in the past 24 hours.”

He eventually responds: “I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney.”

This evidence is important to prosecutors because defense attorneys have sought to argue Hunter Biden was not using drugs during the period in which he purchased the gun.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden trashes Hunter Biden’s gun

After finding Hunter Biden’s .38-caliber revolver, Hallie Biden said she panicked and was afraid to touch it.

She went inside her home and grabbed a gift bag but realized the gun was still visible in the small bag. So she put it inside a leather pouch and then inside the bag, drove to a local grocery store and threw it in an outdoor trash can.

“I realized it was a stupid idea now, but I was just panicking,” Hallie Biden told the jury.

She didn’t remember exactly how, but Hunter Biden found out about it and told her to return to find the gun.

Hallie Biden went back, but the gun was gone. She went inside the store to see if they had removed the trash and eventually filed a police report with the help of one of the employees.

“I was so flustered,” she said.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden discovers Hunter Biden’s gun

Hallie Biden told jurors she would regularly clean out Hunter Biden’s vehicle to “help him get or stay sober.”

“That was kind of the pattern,” she told the jury.

On the morning of October 23, 2018, it was parked beside her home and she searched it and found “some remnants of crack cocaine and paraphernalia.”

“Oh and the gun, obviously,” she told the jury a moment later.

Prosecutors asked her to identify what remnants she found, and she told the jury, “a dusting of powder.” She said the gun was located in the “center console” of the car with bullets.

“I panicked and wanted to get rid of them,” she said.

She said she didn’t want him to have it and she didn’t want her kids to find it.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden testifies Hunter Biden introduced her to crack cocaine

Hallie Biden testified that she visited Hunter Biden in California in June 2018, telling the jury Hunter Biden was using crack cocaine at that time. Prodded by prosecutors, she told the jury that by then, she also had begun using crack cocaine and was introduced to it by Hunter Biden.

“It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I am embarrassed, and I am ashamed and I regret that period of my life,” she told the jury.

She said she ceased using it in August 2018.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden testifies about discovering Hunter Biden’s drug use

Hallie Biden took the stand Thursday morning, describing Hunter Biden as her “brother-in-law.”

She told the jury that after the death of her husband Beau, Hunter Biden’s late brother, she and the defendant began a relationship in late 2015 or 2016.

“It was gradual,” she told the jury.

She said she learned about his drug use during their relationship after discovering pieces of crack cocaine.

“I found it and I Googled it because I didn’t know what it was,” she told the jury.

She mentioned his use of alcohol was also an issue and frequently used both at the same time.

--Xerxes Wilson

Hallie Biden takes the stand

Hallie Biden, the widow of the late Beau Biden and Hunter Biden's ex-lover, is expected testify about how she used drugs with the president’s son as part of the prosecution in his federal trial on gun charges.

Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015. Hallie Biden became romantically involved with his brother in 2016 and were still seeing each other in the fall of 2018, when Hunter Biden is charged with lying on a screening form to buy a gun.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden gave the relationship their “full and complete support” in a 2017 statement that said they were “putting their lives together again after such sadness.”

Prosecutors have said Hallie Biden, who was granted immunity to testify, will say she saw Hunter Biden use drugs multiple times, and found drugs and paraphernalia in his belongings multiple times. She and her kids would search his "bags, backpacks, and vehicle in an effort to help him get sober," according to court documents.

--Xerxes Wilson and Brittany Horn

Cross-examination of gun shop employee continues

Abbe Lowell is currently walking Gordon Cleveland through questions on the gun form at the center of the trial.Some are phrased using “have you ever,” such as have you ever been convicted of a felony? The question relevant to drug use that Hunter Biden is accused of lying on is phrased “are you” an unlawful user or addicted to drugs?

Lowell emphasized this difference in opening statements, arguing that Hunter Biden was in a period of recovery when he purchased the gun and prosecutors can’t prove that his client knowingly lied when answering the question.

He has also emphasized that each of the 10 or so questions on the form include corresponding definitions except the one about drug use.

Attorneys continue to debate Hallie Biden evidence

Hallie Biden is expected to be called as a witness later today.

Abbe Lowell put the court on notice that he would like to introduce into evidence a chart of text messages involving Hallie Biden late Wednesday night.

Prosecutors objected arguing that Lowell’s notice to them was given too late and the evidence is not admissible. The parties have debated the issue for about half an hour.

Ultimately, the judge ruled that individual messages will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to “refresh (Hallie Biden’s) memory.”

— Xerxes Wilson

Court begins with debate over gun form

Abbe Lowell wants to ask Gordon Cleveland, the gun shop employee, about how the store may have failed to verify Hunter Biden’s address on the gun form.

The parties opened court with a debate over whether Lowell could pursue that questioning as the court previously denied Lowell the ability to introduce an amended version of the gun form he contends has incorrect information about the address verification.

Lowell has argued changes to the form are relevant to explore how the gun shop kept records and whether Hunter Biden was rushed through the sale.

The parties are also debating other evidence Lowell wants to introduce.

— Xerxes Wilson

CATCH UP: Hunter Biden gun trial recap: Witnesses give look into Hunter's drug use, gun sale

What will Hallie Biden testify about?

Hallie Biden was in a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden in October 2018, according to pretrial motions filed by prosecutors, the same month that Hunter purchased the gun and that Hallie later threw it away at a north Delaware grocery store.

Hallie Biden, according to prosecutors, will testify that she saw Hunter Biden use drugs multiple times. She will also speak about him staying at her home in the fall of 2018 and how she and her kids would search his "bags, backpacks, and vehicle in an effort to help him get sober," according to court documents.

They found drugs and drug paraphernalia multiple times, prosecutors said.

Hallie Biden also had multiple text message exchanges with Hunter Biden, which will be used as evidence in the trial.

— Xerxes Wilson

Trump laments the addictions of others when asked about Hunter Biden trial

Former President Donald Trump told Fox News on Wednesday he is watching Hunter Biden’s federal trial on gun charges, but the chat with Sean Hannity turned to addiction rather than politics or details of criminal law.

Biden is charged with lying on a federal form and to a gun dealer about his drug use when he bought a revolver in 2018. He has acknowledged a crack addiction, but his lawyer argued he was sober when buying the gun and didn’t intend to deceive anyone.

For Trump, the talk turned to alcohol. Trump, whose brother Fred Trump Jr. died of complications from alcoholism, said he’s never taken a drink.

“I had a brother who suffered tremendously from alcoholism and alcohol,” Trump said. “And it was a terrible thing to watch. He was an incredible guy with the best personality. He was the best-looking person you have ever seen. Everything was perfect. But he had an addiction.”

--Bart Jansen

WHAT TO KNOW: Beau Biden's widow expected to testify. Who is Hallie Biden?

3 House GOP chairmen call for charges against Hunter Biden, James Biden

Three House Republican chairmen urged the Justice Department on Wednesday to press charges against Hunter Biden and James Biden, the son and brother of President Joe Biden, for allegedly lying to Congress.

President Biden denied benefitting from the business deals of his relatives and the White House has called the investigation baseless and partisan.

Reps. James Comer of Kentucky, who heads the Oversight and Accountability Committee; Jim Jordan of Ohio, who heads the Judiciary Committee; and Jason Smith of Missouri, who heads the Ways and Means Committee, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland arguing Hunter and James Biden made statements that could implicate the president in influence peddling.

“Our investigation has revealed President Biden knew about, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name around the world,” Comer said.

— Bart Jansen

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Hunter Biden gun trial: Hallie Biden details drug use, tossing the gun