Hunter Biden gun trial: Ex-wife and girlfriend testify about his addiction; gun-seller testifies about transaction

June 5 (UPI) -- Hunter Biden's gun trial continued Wednesday with cross-examination of an FBI witness about Biden's laptop, testimony by his ex-wife and former girlfriend regarding his addiction, and testimony from the gun-seller.

Gordon Cleveland, who sold Biden the gun in question, said he watched Biden complete the form, including checking "no" on the question regarding his potential use of illicit drugs.

Cleveland said Biden entered the store looking for a firearm and paid cash for a snubnose .38 caliber Colt revolver and ammunition.

Prosecutors showed the jury the handgun that Biden bought that day.

The day's proceedings ended with Cleveland's testimony, and he is expected to take the stand again when the trial resumes Thursday morning.

At the start of Wednesday's trial proceedings, Biden's defense attorney Abbe Lowell resumed his cross-examination Wednesday morning of FBI agent Erika Jensen, the first witness from Tuesday, in front of U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika

The prosecution on Tuesday called Jensen as the first witness under cross-examination to discuss the well-publicized laptop, which was subpoenaed in 2019 and entered into evidence Tuesday.

They went over the timeline of Biden's past drug use, largely by using his own words from his memoir, and how the son of the president allegedly lied on a federal form that asks about addiction in relation to gun ownership.

Jensen said under cross-examination that Biden might not have been using drugs continuously from 2015 to 2019, which covers when he bought the gun in 2018.

Lowell tried to show how Biden was not addicted at the time to drugs but rather alcohol as she outlined a series of alcohol purchases prior to allegedly buying the gun, which the prosecution pointed out was paid for by a credit card and not cash which the prosecutor noted is the favored method of payment for drug dealers.

Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, took the stand for approximately 15 minutes after Jensen exited the stand after her second round of cross-examining as the prosecutor's first witness.

Buhle testified that her 25-year marriage to Hunter Biden, who got kicked out of the Navy in 2014 for testing positive for cocaine, had deteriorated under the weight of his past drug and alcohol use but that she never personally saw him consume drugs.

She said that she first learned of her then-husband's crack addiction when she discovered a supposedly empty crack pipe in an ashtray on their side porch the day after their 2015 wedding anniversary

Buhle said she was "worried" and "scared" that Biden would abuse drugs again, and said that while he was on crack, "He was not himself," as she said he was, "angry, short-tempered, acting in ways he wouldn't when he was sober."

Biden's ex-wife testified that she would often find drug remnants in his car and that she saw Hunter Biden frequently work and interact with friends or family while, she believed, he was under the influence of crack cocaine, and that he would try to hide it from people close to him.

A 2023 study portrays the reality how millions of Americans are addicted to alcohol or various types of drugs, and that millions more struggle with a family member or friend in the grip of addiction, which can spill over to everyday life.

Buhle, Hunter Biden's ex-wife, said that he had been an avid drinker of alcohol for many years.

"He went to rehab the first time in 2003," she told prosecutor Leo Wise on Wednesday.

"He moved out, really, after I found the crack pipe," Buhle said, but had only considered herself separated from Biden "after I found out about the infidelity."

Zoe Kestan an ex-girlfriend of Hunter Biden, took the stand to answer questions about his drug use. Kestan met the future Hunter Biden, she said, in December 2017 at a Manhattan strip club and dated him for several months afterward. She otherwise spoke fondly of her former boyfriend but testified that he would smoke crack very often in private.

Prosecutors showed jurors pictures from her phone that allegedly showed supposed crack pipes in hotel rooms in which they would stay, and said at times she would help him buy drugs at his request by using his mobile banking app at an ATM.

But, unlike Buhle, who said she never saw her ex-husband do drugs, Kestan, who has an immunity agreement with the prosecution, said at times she would see Biden smoke crack "every 20 minutes or so," but that he remained "cognizant and coherent."

"I remember thinking to myself that there was no change in his behavior," Kestan said. "Nothing had changed, he was the same charming person."

Kestan said Biden would often drink alcohol while on drugs, too.

First lady Jill Biden, on Wednesday again visited the courtroom at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., with a handful of other family members, including Hunter Biden's current wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.

Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's oldest daughter, possibly will take the stand, according to transcripts from Tuesday.

The prosecution on Tuesday called Jensen as the first witness under cross-examination to discuss the well-publicized laptop, which was subpoenaed in 2019.

They went over the timeline of Biden's past drug use, largely by using his own words, and how the son of the president allegedly lied on a federal form that asks about addiction in relation to gun ownership.

Jensen said under cross-examination that Biden might not have been using drugs continuously from 2015 to 2019, which covers the period of when he bought the gun in 2018, which is why the prosecution focused on Biden's timeline with his drug use and addiction.

Biden's gun trial comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump's conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying records to facilitate hush-money payments in New York with both trials facing extra scrutiny in the shadow of an election year.

The cases mark the first time in American history that an ex-president has ever been criminally convicted in a court of law, and the first time the child of a sitting president was ever put on trial during their father's presidency and all in the middle of a presidential election.

If convicted on all counts, Hunter Biden could face up 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, according to court filings. However, because Biden does not have a violent past and is an alleged first-time offender, it is possible he could get a lighter sentence.

More information

For more on drug and alcohol addiction, head to the American Psychiatric Association.