Hunter Biden's ex-girlfriend testified before a US court on Thursday about the day she found a gun inside his vehicle, thereby revealing intimate details about the President's son's alleged drug use.
As a witness in the criminal federal gun case against Hunter, Hallie lifted the lid off the pair's "volatile" and "off-on" relationship that led her to use crack cocaine. Her testimony bolstered the prosecution's case that Hunter broke the law barring illegal drug users from owning firearms.
Hallie Biden, who is also the widow of the defendant's late brother Beau, said she found the revolver amid piles of clothes and litter in the glove compartment of Hunter Biden's truck. She said she threw the gun away out of fear of his spiralling addiction. The jurors in the first criminal trial of Hunter also saw the surveillance camera footage of Hallie Biden tossing
Hunter Biden's gun in a supermarket trash can.
"I didn't want him to hurt himself, and I didn't want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie said. "I was afraid to kind of touch it. I didn't know it was loaded," she added.
She wrapped the .38 calibre Colt Cobra revolver into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a purple "little gift shopping bag" and drove to a nearby grocery store, where she threw it in a rubbish bin. "I realise it was a stupid idea now," she said. "But I was panicking."
The weapon was reportedly discovered by a man who often rummaged through the grocery store’s refuse to gather recyclable items.
Though she did not plan on telling Hunter about this, the President's son realised it next morning. "Did you take that from me Hallie," read one angry text shown to jurors. "You really need to help me think right now, Hallie. This is very serious."
She returned to the store to find the gun but was unable to. She then filed a police report. "I'll take the blame," she texted him from the scene. "I don't want to live like this."
Hallie also told the court that she realised about Hunter's drug use only after their relationship began. She found crack cocaine at her house - where he would frequently stay and later repeatedly saw him use the drug.
She also testified that she began using crack cocaine herself after he introduced her to the drug. "It was a terrible experience that I went through, and I'm embarrassed and ashamed, and I regret that period of my life," she said, adding that she stopped using the drug in August 2018.
But, Hunter continued to use it.
In the case that could land him in prison for 25 years, Hunter has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of knowingly lying on federal paperwork when he purchased the revolver and ammunition from a gun shop in Wilmington, Delaware, on 12 October 2018. However, his lawyers claim Hunter was in recovery at the time, so was truthful when he indicated on the paperwork that he was not a drug user.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden said on Thursday he would not pardon his son Hunter if he was found guilty..In an interview with ABC News, Biden replied "yes" when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter. He also replied "yes" when asked if he would accept the outcome of the trial, which started this week.
