Hunter Biden Update: Everything to Know as Trial Set to Begin

The first criminal trial of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is set to begin this week in Delaware.

The president’s son will stand trial on federal charges of illegally possessing a firearm after allegedly lying about his status as a drug user when purchasing a pistol in 2018. He will become the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be criminally tried when jury selection begins on Monday.

While Hunter Biden’s past drug use has been well-documented, he has pleaded not guilty to the gun charges, arguing that he completed a rehab program shortly before he purchased the gun and checked off “no” on a federal form that asked whether he was an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”

Court filings submitted by Hunter Biden’s legal team last week indicate that the defense intends to question the quality of the prosecution’s evidence and argue that the president’s son was not using illicit drugs at the time of his gun purchase, while also questioning the language used on the federal form.

“The terms ‘user’ or ‘addict’ are not defined on the form and were not explained to him,” the filing states. “Someone, like Mr. Biden who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that, could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Department of Justice (DOJ) via online press contact form on Sunday.

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who has been in an unrelated civil court battle with the president’s son over unpaid alimony for several years, is expected to testify for the prosecution. His former girlfriend Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s deceased brother Beau Biden, is also expected to testify.

The charges against Hunter Biden sprang from the investigations of DOJ special counsel David Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, who became the first U.S. president to be convicted of criminal charges when a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday. Trump has maintained his innocence and says the case is politically motivated. His legal team says they will fight the case, which will include an appeal, if necessary.

A second Hunter Biden trial, which also emerged from Weiss’ investigations, is set to begin on September 5 in California. The president’s son has pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in owed federal taxes.

Hunter Biden nearly avoided facing both trials with a plea agreement that would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, enter into a period of probation and likely escape the gun charges.

The deal fell apart last summer after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, refused to accept its terms. Republicans had repeatedly blasted the agreement as a “sweetheart deal” for the president’s son prior to it being dismantled.

Neither of the upcoming trials concern claims that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden engaged in a corrupt scheme to use the elder Biden’s political influence for financial gain abroad—unproven allegations that have been the focus of intense congressional Republican investigations for several years. The White House has repeatedly denied the allegations and has called the investigation a “baseless political stunt.”