Hunter Biden gun trial live updates: Ex-wife takes stand to testify

Cross-examination of Buhle is over – making her time on the stand less than 30 minutes (that’s got to be some kind of record).

The defense asked her to provide specifics – if she ever saw Biden doing drugs or when exactly she found drug paraphernalia in his car but she was unsure.

After just 15 minutes of relatively plain “yes” or “no” questions, the prosecution ends their questioning of Kathleen Buhle – Biden’s ex-wife.

Defense will begin cross-examination.

Prosecutor Leo Wise asked Buhle if Biden ever used the word “addiction” when speaking about his drug use.

Buhle said she could not recall if he ever did but that they spoke about addiction in therapy.

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, said she found drugs and drug paraphernalia in Biden’s car on multiple occasions including in 2018 when he allegedly lied on a federal gun form about his drug use to obtain a firearm.

She said she would “check” his car if one of their daughters wanted to use it to make sure there were no drugs inside.

Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, said she first learned of his drug use in July 2015 when she found a crack pipe on the side porch of their home.

She tells jurors she was “worried” about his drug use at the time because he was discharged from the Navy Reserves in 2014 for failing a drug test.

His brother, Beau Biden, died months earlier in May 2015 from brain cancer.

Prosecutors called Kathleen Buhle – Biden’s ex-wife – to testify on Wednesday, making her their second witness in the federal gun charges trial.

Buhle and Biden were married for 24 years from 1993 until their divorce in 2017. Though they initially separated in 2015.

They have three daughters together: Naomi Biden, Finnegan Biden and Maisy Biden.

Buhle wrote a memoir If We Break about her marriage to Biden and his addiction to drugs.

FBI agent Erika Jensen is off the stand after cross-examination and redirect.

Prosecutors spent Tuesday using Jensen, their first witness, to introduce a slew of evidence including Biden’s laptop, bank statements from the time of the gun purchase, text messages in which Biden spoke about drug use and more.

During cross-examination, the defense undermined how much Jensen could affirm that cash withdrawals were tied to Biden’s drug use or gun purchase and whether the text messages he sent were truthful.

Court is taking a short break before prosecutors call their next witness.

Whether or not evidence obtained from Biden’s laptop – the subject of controversy – was tampered with became a source of back-and-forth in the courtroom on Wednesday.

During cross-examination, Lowell questioned FBI agent Jensen if she had figured out whether any of the files were “tampered” with. Jensen said she did not.

But during redirect, the prosecution asked Jensen if she had seen any evidence of tampering – she said she did not.

Prosecutor Derek Hines underlined the fact that much of the data was from Biden’s iCloud account – not the actual laptop.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Abbe Lowell questioned if FBI agent Erika Jensen could be sure that the large cash withdrawals Hunter Biden made in 2018 were tied to drugs and the gun purchase at the center of the case.

Lowell suggested that the cash withdrawals – which prosecutors insinuated could be related to drug purchases – could have been used for addiction treatment which Biden sought before purchasing the gun in 2018.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Biden purchased the firearm with cash and showed jurors withdrawals Biden made in the days leading up to the gun sale.

Lowell did not dispute that Biden withdrew cash or used cash to pay for the gun but offered other reasons he would have taken out the money.