Dem
51
GOP
49
Seems you can't have a decent trial these days without some woman complaining about the defendant's behavior. No porn stars at Hunter's trial, just his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and a former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan. Buhle testified that between 2015 and 2019, she searched her then-husband's car at least a dozen times and found crack cocaine or related paraphernalia. Her time on the stand for the direct examination, the cross-examination, and the follow-up lasted a total of 20 minutes. Stormy did better than that, but of course, she is used to appearing in public.
Kestan testified that she met Biden at a strip club and he booked her for a private dance. He smoked something and she assumed it was crack, but wasn't really sure. She did say that she felt safe around him. She continued to see him and started having feelings for him. She also said that later he used crack every 20 minutes. She also showed a photo from her phone showing him in a bathtub holding a crack pipe. Salacious! At least Stormy didn't show any photos of her, uh, interaction with Trump. Upon cross-examination, Kestan testified that she helped Biden get cocaine, so she is no angel herself.
It doesn't matter that Biden was a drug addict in 2017. What matters was whether he viewed himself as a drug addict when he bought a gun in 2018 and certified that he was not a drug addict. He is charged with lying on the form. If he did not regard himself as a drug addict when he bought the gun, that may not count as lying.
What also came up is Biden repeatedly withdrawing money from ATMs and bank branches. The prosecution says this is because he needed cash to buy crack. Old-fashioned drug dealers don't take PayPal. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said they were for paying rent, rehab services, and other mundane things. In the 3-month period that included the gun purchase, Biden withdrew $151,000 in cash.
The judge barred Lowell from telling the jury that somehow two different versions of the gun form ended up at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. That could indicate that Biden filled out one form and someone else filled out the other. If Biden is convicted, Lowell will surely bring this up on appeal, saying the judge banned evidence that puts the prosecution's case in doubt. Lowell also noted that the writing on the form is in three different colors, suggesting that multiple people filled out the form with different pens. Was Biden framed?
There was also discussion about Biden's laptop, the most famous computer since Hillary's e-mail server. The defense claims that it was hardly handled in a secure way after Biden brought it to a repair shop and it is possible that Russian agents put some material on it. Lowell is a top defense attorney and by raising this issue is hoping that some juror will later say: "How do we know the laptop wasn't tampered with? I am not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt." There were 6 months between the time Biden dropped it off and when the FBI got it. Who knows who had access to it in that period? This could be important to sow doubt.
Surprisingly, Donald Trump is not attacking Hunter Biden every day. Trump just released eight new videos and a bunch of newsletters. Hunter is not mentioned in any of them. Not once. Maybe the issue is that Trump's polling shows that nobody is interested in the case so it is not likely to win him any votes. Also, he may be uncomfortable about the idea that Biden could be convicted of lying on an official form. For the last week, Republicans have been saying that lying on a government form is no worse than, say, jaywalking. If Biden is convicted, it will be tough to say that Biden is a true criminal for lying on a (disputed) form, but intentionally falsifying 34 business records is a nothingburger. Less surprisingly, Joe Biden won't touch the case with a 10-foot pole. He is following it privately, but not commenting on it. (V)