Headline Roundup • June 3rd, 2024
Hunter Biden's Federal Weapons Trial Begins
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Hunter Biden's federal weapons trial began Monday with jury selection and some early rulings by Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Key Details: On the eve of the trial, Noreika excluded some evidence Biden planned to use, including an altered version of the federal firearms form that was changed by gun store employees. Noreika also blocked one of Hunter's witnesses.
Key Quote: “The inadequacy of Defendant’s expert disclosure for Dr. (Elie) Aoun leaves the government in the dark as to what his opinions about the facts of this case will be, thus rendering the government unable to prepare for trial,” Noreika wrote.
For Context: Biden is charged with three counts: a false statement in the purchase of a firearm, a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearms dealer, and possession of a firearm by a person who is addicted to a controlled substance or is an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
How the Media Covered it: CNN (Lean Left bias) focused on the early rulings by the judge, and the New York Post (Lean Right bias) noted that the trial could result in unwelcome headlines for President Joe Biden, though he is not implicated in the case.
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP
With former President Donald Trump convicted in his Manhattan hush money case, the 2024 political-legal spotlight will shift to Delaware, where jury selection begins Monday in the federal weapons trial of first son Hunter Biden.
Hunter, 54, faces three counts accusing him of illegally possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine after lying on a federal gun-purchase form to obtain the weapon in the first place.
Although President Biden isn’t implicated in the case, the trial could create some unwelcome headlines for the commander in chief as his re-election campaign kicks...
MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
On a Friday evening in October 2018, Hunter Biden rolled up in a black Cadillac to StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in the Delaware city where he had been born and raised.
A salesman standing in the window didn’t initially recognize him as the son of the state’s longtime Democratic senator, now-President Joe Biden, and would later recall declining a tip from the younger Biden as he purchased a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver.
Aaron Schwartz/SIPAPRE/Sipa /AP
The federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s gun trial dealt his defense two setbacks Sunday, on the eve of jury selection, by blocking one of his expert witnesses and excluding a key piece of evidence the president’s son hoped to use.
The rulings from Judge Maryellen Noreika resolved some of the sticking points that were still simmering before the trial begins Monday. Taken together, these decisions could make a tough case for Hunter Biden even more challenging to win. President Joe Biden’s son has pleaded not guilty to illegally buying and owning a...
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