Day 3 of Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial | CNN Politics (2024)

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend were on the stand Wednesday in his trial on federal gun charges.

They testified about his drug use as the prosecution is trying to prove that Biden knowingly lied on a federal form when he purchased a gun in 2018.

The man who sold Biden the gun also took the stand and the revolver that Biden purchased was shown to the jury.

Here’s a recap of what happened in court today:

The jury has been excused for the day in the Hunter Biden trial.

The court will resume Thursday at 9 a.m. ET with Gordon Cleveland, an employee at the gun store, back on the stand.

First lady Jill Biden has left the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, where she was supporting Hunter Biden during his trial.

She also attended the trial onMondayandTuesday.

Gordon Cleveland, who was an employee at the gun store, said he also encouraged customers — including Hunter Biden — to buy ammunition when they purchased a firearm.

Cleveland testified that he explained to Biden that hollow-point bullets — more expensive ammunition — were best for self-defense. He said Biden chose to purchase the bullets.

The former salesman added that he “was making the same pay” whether someone bought a gun or not.

The gun salesman, Gordon Cleveland, embraced his reputation as a “whale hunter,” chuckling when Hunter Biden’s defense attorney brought up the term and bragging about his ability to close deals for pricey guns.

The defense is pursuing this line of inquiry because in opening statements it told the jury that Cleveland essentially peddled the gun to Hunter Biden.

But Cleveland said he did that because the pricier guns are more reliable and high quality.

He wouldn’t peddle “junk” onto customers, Cleveland said.

On cross-examination, Hunter Biden’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell pressed the man who sold Hunter Biden a gun in 2018 about how he saw him arrive at the store.

“Did you see through the wall?” Lowell asked.

The gun store employee, Gordon Cleveland, said no, he eventually saw the car through the store window.

Lowell said in opening statements that Hunter was only in the area to buy a new phone.

Cleveland testified that Hunter pulled into the parking lot of the gun shop from the direction of an AT&T store across the street.

Former gun shop employee Gordon Cleveland testified that Hunter Biden paid in cash for the gun he purchased in 2018.

Cleveland said that Biden told him to keep the change left over, but he decided to leave the extra money in an envelope at the store.

“I don’t keep tips,” Cleveland said.

Cleveland testified he stopped working at the store in 2021 due to health issues.

He is now being cross examined by defense attorney Abbe Lowell.

The Republican-led committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden referred Hunter and James Biden to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, recommending they be charged with making false statements to Congress during closed-door interviews earlier this year.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel David Weiss, who is leading the criminal investigation into the president’s son, the trio of Republican committee chairmen laid out their case for why the DOJ should pursue criminal charges of the president’s son and brother.

The Republicans are seeking to tie their criminal referral of Hunter Biden to the ongoing trial, arguing that his criminal charge for lying on gun purchase forms should weigh on how the DOJ evaluates their accusations.

Political maneuver: House Republicans are looking to go on offense, even if they don’t move the needle in their stalled impeachment inquiry into the president. Their investigation has failed to uncover evidence of wrongdoing by the president and Republicans lack the votes to impeach the president in their narrow majority.

CNN has reached out to representatives of Hunter and James Biden for comment.DOJ acknowledged it has received the referrals but has no further comment.

Gordon Cleveland testified that he told Hunter Biden to “take your time” in filling out the required federal form before Hunter Biden bought a gun in 2018.

Cleveland said he always told people to take their time with the form because some people would fill it out incorrectly and mess up the sale.

The former gun store employee also said he watched Hunter Biden mark “no” on the question of whether he was a user of illegal drugs.

A sketch of the Colt revolver that Hunter Biden purchased from a gun store in Wilmington in October 2018.

The gun purchased by Hunter Biden in 2018 was shown to the jury Wednesday during the testimony of Gordon Cleveland, a former employee of the gun store.

When asked if he wanted a semi-automatic gun or a revolver, Biden said he wanted a revolver, Cleveland said.

Prosecutor Derek Hines showed Cleveland a revolver sitting inside a box, which Cleveland confirmed was the gun he sold Biden.

With no TV cameras or photographs allowed inside the federal courthouse, our images from inside the courtroom come from renowned sketch artist Bill Hennessy.

Here he is at work Tuesday:

Sketch artist Bill Hennessy works on a sketch while watching Hunter Biden's trial on Tuesday, June 4, in Wilmington, Delaware.

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Cameras aren't allowed in court, but sketch artists like Hennessy sketch the trial as its happening to provide the public with a view of what's happening inside.

Prosecutors have called called Gordon Cleveland, the man who sold Hunter Biden a gun in October 2018, to the stand.

Zoe Kestan is finished testifying. Toward the end of her testimony, she said that she was not aware what Biden was doing in October 2018, the month he bought the gun.

Prosecutors have finished the direct examination of Zoe Kestan, Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend. Abbe Lowell is conducting the cross examination and asked about her communications with the special counsel’s office.

Kestan described her many contacts with prosecutors, including a 3-hour session as recently as Monday. She was first interviewed in January 2022, then testified to the grand jury in February 2022. She had a subsequent meeting with Weiss’ team in July 2022.

In the last few weeks, in the run-up to the trial, she had another 3 meetings with special counsel prosecutors, totaling approximately 6 hours.

This is not uncommon for a key government witness. But defense attorneys often highlight these extensive contacts between a witness and the prosecutors to suggest a coziness between the two.

Kestan also confirmed that Weiss’ team granted her immunity in exchange for her cooperation with her probe.

Prosecutors have now elicited direct eyewitness testimony of Hunter Biden doing drugs as late as mid-September 2018, several weeks before he bought the gun at the heart of this case.

Biden’s former girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified that she witnessed him smoking crack during one of their liaisons in Malibu, California, over several days in September 2018.

This could help the prosecutors because they need to prove Biden was using drugs around when he bought the gun in 2018.

The indictment says while buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs — even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

After a lunch break, Zoe Kestan, Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend, continued to testify about how she saw Hunter Biden use drugs at various places the two stayed.

Kestan told jurors that Biden said he would go to rehab but when he stopped answering her messages, she used her laptop to open his banking records and saw he had withdrawn cash far away from the rehab facility.

When she asked him about the rehab, Biden told her something along the lines of: “Don’t worry about it,” she testified.

At another time, Kestan testified that Biden had offered a “young woman who was homeless” to stay with him at a hotel.

Hunter Biden later left that hotel in a rush, according to Kestan, and asked her to clean up the hotel room.

Pictures of the hotel room were shown to the jury and Kestan pointed out several crack pipes, one of which was broken, as well as baking powder, spoons, bowls and chopsticks — all used for the drugs he was taking, she testified.

Before the lunch break, Kestan testified that Hunter Biden once had decided he was getting “ripped off” by his crack dealer, so he decided to try cooking his own crack from powder cocaine, which was easier to obtain.

No cameras are allowed inside the Delaware courtroom where Hunter Biden’s trial is underway, but sketch artist Bill Hennessy captured the scene.

This sketch from court shows the scene during Hunter Biden's trial on Wednesday.

First lady Jill Biden, left, sits behind Hunter Biden during court.

Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell speaks as Judge Maryellen Noreika listens.

Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testifies on Wednesday.

Hunter Biden waves as his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan testifies in court on Wednesday.

First lady Jill Biden returned and reentered the courthouse in Wilmington after briefing leavingearlier in the day.

The motorcade rolled up to the building and stayed put for a several minutes before she walked in the door.

Court has resumed after a one-hour lunch break.

At the start of the trial proceedings Wednesday, the jury struggled to remain attentive while an FBI agent was asked meandering questions about mundane bank records and ATM withdrawals. At times, one of the male jurors was starting to close his eyes.

But when Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle took the stand, members of the jury sat up straight in their seats, leaned in and started tuning in. Her brief answers and subdued tones didn’t seem to pull in the jurors, however.

Zoe Kestan, another one of Biden’s former romantic partners, proved to be a much more captivating witness for the jury. Her delivery was much more animated, and she volunteered interesting details in her answers, like which restaurants they dined at in New York City and which fancy hotels they stayed at in Los Angeles. It seemed like some of the jurors were hanging on every word she said.

Overall, Biden has not been reacting much to the testimony.

There was no acknowledgement or interaction between Hunter Biden and Buhle when she walked into the courtroom or when she exited once her testimony was over. He looked somewhat sheepish while Buhle was testifying and telling the jury about his repeated acts of betrayal, by turning to drugs and having affairs.

While Kestan was on the stand, Biden was watching closely and looked more comfortable hearing the nice things she had to say about him. She said he was “charming” and that “everyone liked him.”

CNN’s Marshall Cohen and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.

Prosecutors introduced more pictures of Hunter Biden into evidence on Wednesday during the testimony of his former girlfriend Zoe Kestan.

One showed Biden wearing a shirt that said “ADDICTED,” with an Adidas logo that was made to look like a marijuana plant.

“I thought that was funny because he didn’t smoke weed,” Kestan said.

Another image shown to the jury was of Hunter Biden in a bathtub holding what Kestan said was a crack pipe.

Court is in a lunch break until roughly 2 p.m. ET.

In this 2019 photo shows Zoe Kestan in Austin, Texas.

Zoe Kestan testified in court that Hunter Biden smoked crack almost constantly in private but not while out in public, where he was affable.

“He was super charming,” Kestan said. “Everybody loved him.”

Back in their hotels when they stayed together, Kestan testified Biden “would want to smoke as soon as he woke up.”

Kestan also said that Hunter Biden would drink alcohol often while doing drugs.

Biden’s defense team has previously pointed to receipts of the president’s son purchasing alcohol around the time he bought the firearm to suggest he was only drinking at the time.

Kestan also said that the pair discussed a frog venom treatment that could “purge” Hunter Biden’s system.

Jurors were shown a picture of Zoe Kestan during the time she says she was with Hunter Biden and saw him smoke crack.

“It’s a used crack pipe,” Kestan said of one image of an item on a bathroom sink and countertop.

Kestan also testified that she brought a drug dealer named Frankie up to the room at the Four Seasons in New York to meet with Hunter Biden.

She also said she witnessed Biden clean out a crack pipe, using “chop sticks and disassembled pens.”

Biden also asked her to get cash for him to buy drugs, she testified, using his mobile banking app to give her a code to use at the ATM.

Kestan said that he told her that he also used this maneuver with dealers, so they could directly withdrawal cash from his bank account.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers are trying to use a “remarkably clever and remarkably careful” defense in the trial on federal gun charges against him, one criminal defense attorney said on CNN.

The indictment stems from a 2018 gun purchase. While buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs — even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

Ron Kuby, a defense lawyer, said the defense is trying to convey two arguments to the jury:

On the other side, the prosecution is trying to portray Biden as a “drug-addled wreck of a human being” during the general time period when the gun purchase at the heart of the case was made, Kuby said.

Kuby said to combat that, Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell is trying to give the jury a variety of reasons to disregard certain unsavory depictions.

“Once the jury has decided to hunt for reasonable doubt, they’ll usually find it,” he added.

Zoe Kestan met Hunter Biden for a second time in New York City and testified that she saw him smoking crack during that trip.

A friend invited them to hang out, and “I felt a connection with him,” she said. So she decided to spend a week with him at the SoHo Grande Hotel.

She also saw him smoking crack during the trip. And eventually she witnessed him smoking “every 20 minutes or so.”

Hunter was “incredibly friendly” and “charming” in their interactions and Kestan said she developed feelings for him.

“I already felt myself really caring for him,” she added.

Kestan is much more forthcoming and talkative on the stand than Buhle was.

Zoe Kestan told jurors how she met Hunter Biden at a gentleman’s club she worked at in December 2017.

“It was late at night,” she said, adding that she was asked for one final private dance.

“He was already in the room,” Kestan said of Hunter Biden.

That night, she said, Hunter Biden smoked something from a strange pipe.

“I assumed it to be crack cocaine,” she testified.

Court is back in session Wednesday for day three of the Hunter Biden trial, with some notable guests in court to support the president’s son.

Among them is first lady Jill Biden, who arrived in court on Wednesday morning, as well as his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.

Here’s how the rest of the day has played out so far:

Hunter Biden's former wife Kathleen Buhle departs the federal courthouse after taking the stand during the trial of Hunter Biden, on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 5.

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle is off the stand.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell concluded his questioning asking if her ever saw Hunter Biden use drugs.

“No,” she said.

Under cross examination, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle said she didn’t know exactly when she checked Biden’s car and found drug paraphernalia. Prosecutors contend that this occurred in 2018, the same year Hunter Biden bought the gun.

“I don’t recall the exact days,” Buhle testified, adding that she only knew she cleaned the car when their daughters were using it.

Buhle also testified during cross examination that Biden moved out of their house after she found the paraphernalia.

“He moved out, really, after I found the crack pipe,” she said, but only considered them separated “after I found out about the infidelity.”

Hunter Biden defense attorney Abbe Lowell is questioning Kathleen Buhle on cross-examination.

Prosecutor Leo Wise only questioned Buhle for about 15 minutes.

In her appearance, Buhle answered questions from the prosecutor with short, staccato answers.

“We were in therapy together” where Hunter Biden’s addiction was discussed, Buhle told prosecutors.

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testified Wednesday that she found drugs and paraphernalia in Hunter Biden’s car on multiple occasions, including in 2018.

Buhle said of Hunter Biden’s demeanor at the time: “He was angry, short tempered” and tried to hide his drug use from family and friends.

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testified that she first learned of his drug use in July 2015.

“I found a crack pipe … on an ashtray on the side porch of our home,” she said.

She previously “worried” and was “scared” about possible drug use due to Hunter Biden’s 2014 exit from the Navy.

Buhle is testifying under subpoena.

Kathleen Buhle, center, ex-wife of Hunter Biden.

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, has been called to testify in the trial of the president’s son on gun charges in Delaware.

Buhle, who was married to Biden for over two decades, is expected testify about checking his vehicle in 2018 “from time to time because she did not want their children in a vehicle with drugs,” according to prosecutors.

“While searching his vehicles, she found drugs or paraphernalia on approximately a dozen occasions, which she discarded in a trash can,” prosecutors wrote in a court brief. “She is corroborated by a text message exchange with the defendant, in which she tells the defendant on March 9, 2018, ‘I also found a few crack pipes. I took them out because our daughter was driving the car.’”

Whatever one thinks of theHunter Biden criminal case, the start of the federal gun trial involving the president’s son this week in Delaware laid bare a sobering aspect of American life that transcends partisan politics: a nation struggling with addiction.

The trial comes as federal, state and local officials havebeen battlingan epidemic of drug overdoses across the country in both red and blue states both, including those involving the highly potent opioid fentanyl.

Hunter Biden has pleadednot guiltyto charges of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs, a violation of federal law.

After prospective jurors were sworn in Monday inside Wilmington’s J. Caleb Boggs federal building, the judge overseeing the case read aloud a list of questions that would be used in winnowing down the group of residents who would rule on the case against Hunter Biden.

Another question probed whether potential jurors or their close associates had ever sought treatment for drug use. During their, at times, emotional answers, prospective juror after juror described how drug use had afflicted people they knew.

Read more about how drug addiction is affecting Americans, and how that might play out in this case here.

Judge Maryellen Noreikaprovided the jury with instructions for the trial of Hunter Biden on Monday.

The instructions outlined a variety of points for jurors to follow and keep in mind for the trial including; the role of the jury, conduct of the jury, questions by jurors and note taking.

The instructions said that the court will not provide jurors with a written account of testimony, but they are allowed to take notes.

View the full jury instructions:

FBI special agent Erika Jensen is off the stand after cross-examination and redirect concluded this morning. The court is now in a break.

As he neared the end of his questioning, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell tried to undermine the credibility of the laptop and the authenticity of the messages found on the device.

“Did you find out if any of the files had been tampered with,” before the FBI obtained it in 2019, he asked.

“I did not,” Jensen replied.

Prosecutors objected when Lowell started asking some questions about the Wilmington repair shop owner who gave the laptop to the FBI.

The defense is trying to undermine prosecutors’ suggestion that Hunter Biden’s many cash withdrawals were tied to his alleged crimes – the gun purchase and the drugs.

Abbe Lowell, while questioning the special counsel’s lead-off witness, FBI special agent Erika Jensen, suggested that some of the cash that she tried to link to the October 2018 gun purchase may have actually been for rehab and addiction treatment.

Previously, Jensen testified that Biden withdrew cash on the day, October 12, 2018, he later paid in cash for the gun.

Lowell has not contested that Biden paid cash for the gun. But he has pointed out other payments for rehab, around that same time period, from Biden-linked bank accounts.

Hunter Biden’s case could have been resolved without having to be heard in court, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said Wednesday.

Jackson said it was a “shame” the case was being heard in court rather than Hunter Biden receiving help for his addiction another way.

“It’s ashame we’re here and I say thatnot from an opinionperspective, but as a practitioner’s perspective. Ingoing to state and going tofederal court, as I do, prosecutors generally do theright thing. What’s the rightthing? Equitable outcomes,” Jackson said on CNN.

Jackson pointed to the fact that Hunter Biden had the gun for an 11-day period of time, was suffering “significant episodes” and “dark times”, did not use the gun in a nefarious way — or access it at all.

“We know last year (he) was subject to a diversion program, which means you stay out of trouble. We’re all good, you know, get your life together, move forward. Instead, we have this embarrassing trial where all his family and past exes are coming in to testify.”

Under cross-examination, FBI special agent Erika Jensen said investigators couldn’t verify that Hunter Biden actually did what he claimed he was doing in the texts being used as evidence against him.

In the first message, Hunter Biden said he was meeting a dealer named “Mookie” near the minor league ballpark in Wilmington.

In the second message, Hunter Biden said he was smoking crack “on a car” at a street corner in downtown Wilmington.

But it’s unknown if those things actually occurred.

“No,” Jensen said, when asked if she knew if those events really happened.

She also said she did not know if Mookie, the dealer, even existed.

In cross examination of the FBI agent who introduced several chapters of Hunter Biden’s memoir, defense attorney Abbe Lowell highlighted that the book doesn’t discuss specific drug use at the time of the gun purchase.

“We used the items that were evidence of addiction,” FBI agent Erika Jensen said in response to Lowell’s questions over the book.

Jensen did not point to any specific part of the book when Lowell asked if it contained any detailed description of drug use in the fall of 2018, when Biden purchased the firearm.

The defense is also trying to argue that Biden was abusing alcohol, but not necessarily drugs, in October 2018 when he bought the gun.

Lowell just showed the jury a $48 payment from October 1, 2018, that Biden made at a place called “Liquor Time Liquors.”

The federal gun forms ask buyers if they are users of, or addicted to, illegal drugs. It says nothing about alcohol. Lowell said in his opening statement Tuesday that a drunk person could still legally buy a gun.

There were several liquor purchases that Lowell highlighted from October 2018 in Wilmington during the same month and city where Biden bought the gun.

Judge Maryellen Noreika, right, speaks with lawyers involved with Hunter Biden's trial on Tuesday, June 4, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Federal district Judge Maryellen Noreika is overseeing Hunter Biden’s gun case in Delaware.

Noreika, a Donald Trump appointee, was confirmed by the US Senate in August 2018 by voice vote. She had the support of both Democratic senators from Delaware. Under the Senate’sblue slip tradition, nominees for district court seats require the support of home state senators to move forward.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, praised Noreika in a statement after her nomination was announced. He described her and another appointee as “seasoned attorneys,” with “impressive trial skills, deep experience in federal practice, and profound respect for the law.”

Before becoming a federal judge, Noreika was a former patent lawyer in Wilmington, Delaware. Shegrew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniaand graduated from University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1993.

Noreika’s political spendinghas gone to both parties. On the presidential level, federal records indicate that she gave $1,000 to then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination. She later donated $2,300 to the eventual 2008 Republican nominee, then-Arizona Sen. John McCain. She donated to the subsequent GOP nominee as well, giving $2,500 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012.

Noreika also financially supported Sen. Tom Cotton, a conservative Republican from Arkansas, during his 2014 senate race. She also donated $1,000 in 2009 to the DSCC, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.

First lady Jill Biden arrives at federal court on Wednesday, June 5, in Wilmington, Delaware.

First lady Jill Biden entered the courthouse not long after her son Hunter Biden ahead of the third day of his trial.

She also attended the trial on Monday and Tuesday.

Earlier, Hunter Biden arrived with his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.

Hunter Biden has entered the J. Caleb Boggs federal building in Wilmington, Delaware, for the third day of his trial on federal gun charges.

He arrived with his wife Melissa Cohen Biden and placed his left hand on her shoulder when they walked up to the doors.

Cross examination of the prosecution’s first witness, an FBI agent, will continuethis morning and Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle is likely to take the stand today.

Hunter Biden and his his wife Melissa Cohen Biden depart from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 4, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hunter Biden faces three charges, including making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

The indictment stems from a 2018 gun purchase. While buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs – even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

It’s a federal crime to lie on the ATF form or to possess a firearm as a drug user. He possessed the gun for 11 days in 2018.

If convicted on all counts, Biden could theoretically face as much as 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000, according to court filings.

However, defendants very rarely get the maximum penalty, especially in cases like these, involving non-violent crimes and an alleged first-time offender.

The charges followed a botched agreement: Last June, Weiss announced a two-pronged agreement where Biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors and enter a “diversion agreement” where the gun charge would be dropped in two years if he passed regular drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble.

However, at a July 2023 hearing, the agreement collapsed after a judge saidshe had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss as special counsel the month after.

CNN’s Marshall Cohen,Kara Scannell, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this post.

A jury of Delaware residents has been empaneled in the criminal trial of Hunter Biden on federal gun charges.

Opening statements in the case involving President Joe Biden’s son were delivered on Tuesday, following the dismissal of one juror who cited difficulty getting to the courthouse each day.

One of the four originally selected alternates who also hear the case will replace that juror.

Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell speaks during court on Tuesday, June 4.

Thesecond day of Hunter Biden’s trial laid the groundwork for both sides of the case, as prosecutors and defense attorneys battled over the fundamental issue at play: whether Biden purchased a gun while addicted to drugs.

In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutor Derek Hines made clear that President Joe Biden’s son “isn’t charged with possessing drugs,” but rather because he allegedly lied on a federal background check form.

“Addiction may not be a choice,” Hines said, but it is a choice to illegally buy a gun.

Hines continued: “We’re here because of the defendant’s lies and choices. … No one is above the law. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your name is.”

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s proceedings:

Prosecutors also introduced a tranche of evidence that investigators obtained from Biden’s electronics, including his infamous laptop.

Their goal is to illustrate Biden abused drugs in 2018. They tried to accomplish this by playing a shirtless video of him holding what looked like a crack pipe, reading texts where he haphazardly tried to meet drug dealers in California and Massachusetts and showing his angry exchanges with his loved ones about his many personal failures.

Read more takeaways from Tuesday’s proceedings.