WILMINGTON, Delaware — While his father was overseas marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Hunter Biden’s legal team was once again holed up in a courtroom, playing defense.
To kick off the day Friday, prosecutors plan to call up their last two witnesses for testimony — forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer and Drug Enforcement Administration supervisory special agent Joshua Romig.
Brewer is expected to discuss the testing of cocaine residue in Hunter’s gun pouch while Romig will provide his expertise on coded language typically used in drug deals.
Prosecutor Derek Hines anticipated that at some point on Friday morning, his team will rest its case.
That comes on the heels of five witnesses who delivered testimony Thursday, including Hunter’s sister-in-law turned lover Hallie Biden.
Hunter’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge before recess Thursday that he plans to call “two or three” more witnesses.
“Maybe not even that,” he added.
One of them, he already identified as James “Jimmy” Biden, the younger brother of the president. Another is expected to be Hunter’s eldest daughter Naomi Biden as Lowell previously alluded to in both opening statements and court documents.
Lastly, as Lowell laid out to US District Judge Maryellen Noreika Thursday, the defense team is contemplating whether or not to bring in its own lab expert depending on what Brewer says in his testimony.
“[We’re] not gonna delay the game,” he told the judge, who suggested that the defense could potentially coordinate its plans on that front during an extended lunch break Friday.
Will Hunter testify?
Lowell said point-blank that after the prosecution rests its case, the defense will make a determination as to whether or not Hunter will testify.
Putting Hunter on the stand could pose considerable risks to the defense. Prosecutors would almost certainly ask him under oath whether he smoked crack cocaine during the October timeframe he purchased the revolver.
Lowell also teased that the defense could conceivably rest its case next Monday.
Who was Hunter with those 11 days in Oct. 2018?
A key undertaking during Lowell’s questioning throughout the week has been to distance witnesses such as ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, old flame Zoe Kestan, and Hallie from Hunter during the 11-day stretch he possessed a gun.
With Kestan and Buhle, this was fairly straightforward. Neither of them could recall any significant interactions with him during that timeframe.
And they certainly couldn’t recount him doing crack while he possessed the .38 caliber revolver.
Hallie proved to be a bit more complicated.
She recounted how Hunter would effectively ghost her for stretches of time before resurfacing almost out of the blue.
Hallie went to a rehab facility in Pennsylvania around Oct. 6, 2018, and Hunter joined in for a session. But then she didn’t see him in person until around Oct. 23, 2018.
Her recollection was very hazy as to when specifically Hunter first showed up at her place — whether it was late at night on Oct. 22 or at some point in the morning of Oct. 23.
Hunter and Hallie had exchanged text messages during that stretch. But despite her fuzzy recollection, Lowell made it clear that she wasn’t with him during that 11-day period — until the end.
Moreover, Lowell got Hallie to admit that she couldn’t remember seeing Hunter smoke crack during that time, despite at least two major text exchanges about apparent drug machinations he had — one with her and another with an individual named “Mookie” (whom Hallie thought was likely a drug dealer.)
Hallie also recounted discovering crack paraphernalia in his truck, which was parked outside on her lawn on the morning of Oct. 23, 2018 — the same day she found the revolver and took it to a public trash can.
Given all that, it is unclear whether the defense has a witness in mind who can identify Hunter’s activities during the 11 days he possessed the firearm.
