Prosecutor Derek Hines delivered a blistering opening statement in Hunter Biden’s gun trial on Tuesday, telling the jurors that “no one is above the law.”
The opening salvo set the stage for the prosecution’s framing of the trial.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what your name is,” Hines said. Defendants are tried “because of the choices they made,” he continued, court reporters noted, adding that Hunter “chose to illegally own a firearm” and that “we’re also here because he chose to lie.”
Hunter Biden “chose to illegally own a firearm,” he said. “Addiction may not be a choice,” but buying a gun is. Hunter “isn’t charged with possessing drugs.”
“We would not be here today if he was just a drug addict,” Hines said.
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, is charged with one count of false statement in the purchase of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and one count of false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer.
Hunter used crack when he purchased the firearm, according to a wide variety of photos from the time on his abandoned laptop, and the gun was found discarded in a public trash can next to a school. The Secret Service allegedly intervened in the investigation of that incident.
Hines told the court that Gordon Cleveland, who sold the gun to Hunter Biden at Starquest Shooters, will testify at the trial,” NBC News reported:
The form that Biden filled out to purchase the gun was shown to jurors, and Hines walked through each part of the form.
Dealers rely on the honesty of the person filling out the form, Hines said.
“Mr. Cleveland will testify” that Hunter Biden checked a box on the form indicating he wasn’t using drugs or alcohol, Hines said.
Prosecutors showed jurors an image of Hunter’s revolver and images of “hollow-point” ammunition that he bought that day, CNN reported:
Biden’s lawyers previously said in filings that he never used or loaded the gun when he had it for 11 days before his girlfriend threw it away.
…
Prosecutors showed the jury the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] form that was filled out when Biden bought the gun.
“He lied” on the ATF form, Hines told the jury.
The judge barred TV, audio, and Slack messages at Hunter’s trial, so court reporters have to rely “on notes, runners, or for reporters to come out of the courthouse in person,” according to CNN.
The case is United States v. Hunter Biden, No. 24-1703 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.