Jury begins deliberations in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial

The jury in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial began deliberations on Monday after the defendant declined to testify in his own defense and both sides presented closing arguments in the historic case against the president’s son.

If convicted, Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000, though first-time offenders like him rarely receive the maximum penalty. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Here are some takeaways from the sixth day of the historic trial:

• "No one is above the law," prosecutors say: In the first seconds of prosecutor Leo Wise’s closing arguments, he referenced members of the Biden family who have been in the courtroom, often including first lady Jill Biden. “The people sitting in the gallery are not evidence,” Wise said. As he continued, he returned to a theme that his colleague raised in opening statements: “No one is above the law.” Jurors, he said, shouldn’t treat this case differently “because of who the defendant is.”
• Evidence was "overwhelming," prosecutors say: Wise went on to explain to the jury why the prosecution went into so many excruciating details about the defendant’s spiral into crack cocaine abuse. “The evidence was personal, it was ugly, and it was overwhelming. It was also absolutely necessary,” Wise said. “There is no other way to prove the use of drugs or addiction to drugs than through the kind of evidence that you saw.” He noted, accurately, that the judge’s instructions don’t require the Justice Department to prove that Biden used drugs on a specific day, but only that he was “actively engaged” in drugs around that time.
• "It’s time to end this case," defense says: During his nearly 90-minute closing argument, defense attorney Abbe Lowell forcefully made the case that prosecutors hadn’t met the high burden to prove Biden’s guilt. Lowell repeatedly said that prosecutors showed no direct evidence that Biden was using illegal drugs during October 2018 when he bought the firearm. In order to reach a guilty verdict, prosecutors need to prove that Biden was “conscious and aware” of the law and how he was violating it, Lowell argued.

Read more takeaways from Day 6

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

President Joe Biden said he would not pardon his son Hunter if he's found guilty of criminal gun charges.

"Yes," Biden told interviewer David Muir of ABC last week when asked if he would rule out a pardon. The president also affirmed he would accept the outcome of the trial.

Biden accused his predecessor Donald Trump of attempting to subvert the rule of law by questioning the verdict in his own criminal trial.

"He's trying to undermine it," Biden told Muir. "He got a fair trial. The jury spoke."

Read more on President Joe Biden's comments.

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’s blue 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. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1993. 

Noreika’s political spending has 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. 

As President Joe Biden engages in the fight of his political life in a campaign focused on democracy and the rule of law, the most intimate details of his family’s ongoing personal tragedies have been publicly dissected in a courtroom over the last week.

Hunter Biden’s struggles with addiction after the death of his brother Beau Biden have been the focus of hours of testimony during his trial for federal criminal charges, putting some of the Biden family’s most personal problems on full display. The president’s son has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts connected to a gun he purchased in October 2018.

For decades, the president has navigated the sometimes-competing demands of his political career and being a father, particularly when it comes to Hunter Biden. Part of the president’s enduring brand has been his ability to relate to the personal tragedies of others because of what his family has suffered, including the death of his first wife and daughter in a 1972 car crash that severely injured Beau and Hunter, and Beau’s 2015 death from brain cancer.

The most emotional parts of the trial involved the testimony from those closest to Hunter Biden, including his daughter Naomi, his ex-girlfriend and his brother’s widow Hallie Biden and his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle.

Though the questions they faced were aimed at determining whether Hunter was using drugs in 2018, the effect Hunter’s drug use had on their own lives was inescapable.

“I am the President, but I am also a Dad,” Biden said in a statement at the start of the trial. “Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I are going to continue to be there for Hunter and our family with our love and support.”

Last week, the president ruled out pardoning his son.

The jury will resume deliberations Tuesday in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial in Wilmington, Delaware.

While buying a revolver in Delaware in 2018, prosecutors accuse Biden of lying 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.

Here's who was on the stand during the trial:

1. FBI special agent Erika Jensen (she testified at the beginning of the trial and was called again to the stand by the prosecution during their rebuttal argument)
2. Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife
3. Zoe Kestan, Hunter Biden's former girlfriend
4. Gordon Cleveland, a gun store employee who sold Hunter Biden the firearm at the center of the case
5. Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden's late brother, Beau, and Hunter Biden's former girlfriend
6. Joshua Marley, a Delaware police officer
7. Millard Greer, a former Delaware state trooper
8. Edward Banner, the 80-year-old man who found Hunter Biden's gun in a trash can outside a grocery store
9. Jason Brewer, an FBI forensic chemist
10. Joshua Romig, a DEA special agent
11. Jason Turner, a gun store employee
12. Ronald Palimere, the gun store’s owner
13. Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's daughter

The jurors have been dismissed for the day in the Hunter Biden trial.

They began deliberating about an hour before court ended Monday. Court and deliberations will resume Tuesday morning.

A panel of 12 Delaware citizens is deliberating in the federal gun trial against Hunter Biden after both sides presented closing arguments.

This is the first time in American history that the child of the sitting president is going on trial. The indictment was brought by the Justice Department, specifically by David Weiss, the special counsel appointed last year to oversee the Hunter Biden probes.

Hunter Biden, 54, is accused of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs, a violation of federal law. He pleaded not guilty to the three charges, though he has been open about his struggles with alcohol and crack cocaine addiction.

The first two charges in the three-count indictment are tied to the gun purchase itself.

When a person buys a gun, they must fill out a form with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and affirm that they are legally allowed to buy the weapon. Hunter Biden has been charged with lying on those forms.

These questions include: Have you been convicted of a felony? Are you a fugitive? Are you in the country unlawfully? And, importantly for this case, are you an “unlawful user of, or addicted to” illegal drugs? Hunter Biden allegedly checked the box that said, “No.”

Count 3 relates to the possession of the gun. It’s also against federal law to possess a gun if you are abusing drugs. Hunter Biden had the gun for 11 days in October 2018, before his girlfriend threw it in a dumpster because she was worried about his mental health, according to the indictment and texts made public in recent court filings.

“Guns present a danger if they get in the wrong hands, and that’s the impetus behind these laws,” Nabeel Kibria, a Washington, DC-based defense attorney who has handled hundreds of gun cases, told CNN. “The evidence seems pretty stacked against Hunter … but who determines who is an addict? What are the bright-line rules that must be followed?”

If convicted of al three counts, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, though he likely will receive far less than the maximum as a first-time offender.  

Some jurors took notes during the roughly hour-long prosecution closing arguments, taking glances at the large contingent of Biden family members, including the first lady, the president's siblings James and Valerie, and a number of cousins.

Various family members shook their heads in disapproval as the prosecutor described Hunter Biden’s “four years of active addiction.” 

During Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell’s 90 minute closing however, some jurors appeared to be nodding off. He showed them a lengthy series of full-screen graphics to list what he said were reasonable doubts jurors should have about the government case. 

Lowell used an analogy of an accordion to try to describe how prosecutors were stretching facts to cover the lack of direct evidence of Hunter Biden’s drug use in October, 2018 when he bought the gun. 

Some jurors pulled their sweaters and shawls up to cover themselves in the chilly courtroom as the prosecution retook the podium for the rebuttal.