WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden's legal team signaled Tuesday that his federal trial on three gun charges won't just be the U.S. v. Biden — it'll also be Biden v. Biden.
Why it matters: With Bidens likely to testify for both the prosecution and the defense, the trial is set to further divide parts of the family that fractured after the death of President Biden's other son, Beau, in 2015.
- The emotionally fraught trial — the first of two Hunter Biden faces in the coming months — is unfolding as the 81-year-old president enters a key stretch of his re-election campaign.
Driving the news: Hunter's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, are set to testify for the prosecution, according to Tuesday's opening statements and court filings.
- President Biden's brother James "Jimmy" Biden and Kathleen's daughter Naomi Biden could testify for the defense.
- Buhle and Hallie likely will testify about Hunter's addiction to crack cocaine, while Jimmy and Naomi are likely to testify about Hunter's state of mind when he bought a gun in Wilmington.
- Buhle and Hallie have largely kept out of the spotlight but both were subpoenaed to testify in the case.
- As many of the Bidens rallied around Hunter at the lowest points of his addiction, they took his side against Buhle in their messy divorce that began in 2017.
In his opening argument Tuesday, Hunter's lead defense attorney Abbe Lowell repeatedly deflected blame toward Hallie, who was romantically involved with Hunter in October 2018.
- That was when Hunter, who had battled an addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine, bought a gun and allegedly violated the law by signing a federal form stating he was not a drug user — and continuing to possess the gun afterward.
- Lowell said that Hallie Biden — who is set to testify as soon as Wednesday and has been granted immunity — found the gun and "created a firestorm," "freaked out," "freaked out again," "took it upon herself to take the gun," and put it in a Dumpster near a Delaware grocery store.
- Lowell also noted that it was "Hallie, not Hunter" who tossed the gun where someone else could find it.
- Hallie fell into addiction with Hunter but had gotten sober two months before he returned to Wilmington, according to the prosecution.
- Hallie's lawyer declined to comment.
Between the lines: Several members of the president's family have sat in court during the trial's first two days, in solidarity with Hunter.
- First Lady Jill Biden, Joe and Jill's daughter Ashley Biden, Hunter's uncle Jack Owens, and Hunter's wife, Melissa, all were in the audience.
- Ashley often wiped tears in the opening hours Tuesday before exiting early while the first lady appeared stoic, at one point putting her arm around her daughter.
- President Biden issued a statement supporting Hunter on Monday, saying he and Jill "are so proud of the man he is today. Hunter's resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us."
Zoom in: When he bought the gun on Oct. 12, 2018, Hunter marked "no" on the federal form that asked whether he was an "unlawful user of, or addicted to any controlled substance."
- Text messages introduced in court Tuesday indicate that Hallie Biden took the gun out of Hunter's truck and threw it away because she feared for the safety of Hunter and her kids.
- The gun was found by another man before Hallie and Hunter could retrieve it, and police got involved — two officers are expected to testify.
- Hunter's felony charges carry up to 25 years in jail on conviction, though that's rare for first-time offenders.
Zoom out: The trial has revealed the trauma the Biden family went through in the lead-up to Joe Biden running for president in 2020.
- The gun episode occurred as the future president was criss-crossing the country, preparing for his campaign.
- Hunter's addictions were such that much of the family held a failed intervention in early 2019, according to text messages and his memoir, "Beautiful Things."
Nine days before Joe Biden entered the presidential race, Hunter left a laptop at a Wilmington computer repair shop on April 16, 2019, according to filings by the U.S. attorney and an invoice from the repair shop introduced at the trial.
- The FBI obtained the computer in late 2019, and introduced it as evidence Tuesday.
Hunter, who had been involved in all of his father's previous campaigns, kept his distance as the presidential race began.
- On April 24, 2019, Hunter withdrew money from an ATM in Washington, D.C. The next day — the day Joe Biden entered the race — Hunter withdrew money from an ATM in California, according to records introduced Tuesday.
