(24 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wilmington, Delaware – 24 May 2024
1. Hunter Biden walking walking away from court building
2. Motorcade carrying Hunter Biden driving away from court building
STORYLINE:
Hunter Biden ‘s trial on federal firearms charges in Delaware could last up to two weeks and likely include sharp disagreements over evidence as his father’s reelection campaign unfolds.
President Joe Biden’s son is charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware.
Hunter Biden has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law and the case is politically motivated.
He didn’t speak to reporters as he accompanied his lawyers to and from the Wilmington courthouse for a hearing on Friday.
Prosecutors won a victory on one key point as U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika found that prosecutors wouldn’t have to prove that he specifically used drugs on the day of the purchase.
She agreed to consider, however, defense questions about the contents of a laptop that he allegedly dropped off at a Delaware repair shop.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys want to raise questions about the authenticity of the laptop’s data at trial while prosecutors say that there’s no evidence it has been compromised and that a drawn-out fight over it would be a waste of time. The laptop has been the source of controversy for years after Republicans accessed and disseminated personal data from it.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she will consider objections to specific pieces of data as the trial unfolds.
Prosecutors also plan to show jurors portions of his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother, Beau, of brain cancer at age 46.
Defense attorneys argue prosecutors are cherry-picking evidence from the book and want to also include more information they chose.
They also say there are indications that the gun-purchase form was changed by employees after the sale; prosecutors say there were only minor additions unrelated to the parts Hunter Biden filled out.
Noreika didn’t immediately rule on whether the defense could introduce an altered version of the form at trial, which is expected to begin with jury selection on June 3.
AP video by Tassanee Vejpongsa
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