Hunter Biden's audiobook memoir was played to jurors as his "nonstop" cocaine addiction and "crack-filled cross-country odyssey" were detailed in court.
Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from the purchase of a Colt revolver when he was, according to his memoir, addicted to crack. He has been accused of lying to a federally licenced gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
If convicted, Hunter faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars. The first day of testimony in the case dredged up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealed new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms.
READ MORE: Hunter Biden's firearms trial gets underway - what you need to know
For part of the day, the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom. Lawyers said jurors would hear testimony from the president’s brother James Biden, who is close with Hunter and helped his nephew through rehab stints in the past.
They will also hear how Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s late son Beau, also became addicted to crack during a brief relationship with Hunter.
Hunter Biden's 'crack-filled cross-country odyssey' memoir played to jurors
Hunter Biden may not have taken to the witness stand but it did not stop jurors from hearing his voice - as prosecutors played excerpts from the audiobook of his memoir, which he narrated. Jurors heard in vivid detail his "nonstop debauchery" as a crack addict in early 2018, which was just months before he bought the Colt Cobra firearm.
And in 2017, he described a "crack-filled cross-country odyssey" and recounted how his abuse of crack increased so much he was using it "every hour, every day." It wasn't just jurors listening, Hunter's wife, stepmum, and half-sister were all in attendance including First Lady Jill Biden and her daughter Ashley Biden.
Jill Biden lifted her left arm and put it around her daughter's shoulders as jurors heard Biden recalling a disturbing 12-day "roll" in Los Angeles. Text messages were also shown including one Hunter sent to his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, as their relationship began to fall apart.
"I'm liar and a thief, and a blamer and a user, and I'm delusional and an addict, unlike the beyond and above all addicts that you know, and I've ruined every relationship that I've ever cherished," he wrote.
The infamous laptop messages
Prosecutors showed jurors Hunter's old laptop computer, the same one he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. In 2020, the contents made their way to Republicans and were publicly leaked, revealing highly personal messages about his work and his life. He has since sued over the leaked information.
"Ultimately, in examining that laptop, were investigators able to confirm that it was Hunter Biden's laptop?" Hines asked FBI witness Erika Jensen. "Yes," she replied.
An FBI agent read aloud messages stored on his devices that chronicled a desperate effort to buy drugs. The data also included receipts for a detox facility he attended before relapsing and showed large cash withdrawals.
In one exchange with Hallie, the day after he bought the gun, she wrote: “I called you 500 times in past 24 hours.” Hunter replied less than a minute later, informing her that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
“There’s my truth,” he added in a follow-up text.
Biden family members could be called to stand
Hunter Biden's family could be called to the stand to give evidence after prosecutors said Hallie Biden, widow of Hunter's brother Beau, would take stand, along with Hunter's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle.
The proceedings come after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty and has argued he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president’s son.
“No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” prosecutor Derek Hines said. “He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a federal background check ... the defendant’s choice to buy a gun is why we are here.”