Hunter Biden's defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, appeared to telegraph a key element of his defense strategy in federal court in Delaware on Friday over who exactly filled out the key federal gun form at issue in the case.
The crux of the government's case is that Hunter Biden checked a box on a government form, specifically Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473, which stated that he was not a drug user or addict. at the time he bought a gun.
There are two versions of the particular form that Biden filled out. The first was emailed on Oct. 26, 2018, and U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika allowed that form to become evidence.
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Hunter Biden is in court (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
However, there is another version of the form, a physical version, that was completed at a gun store. It was revealed in court on Friday that a gun store employee, Gordon Cleveland, helped Biden fill out the physical form that day.
Cleveland will likely be called to testify, and Noreika suggested the government would likely ask him to testify that Biden filled out the form and signed it.
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Hunter Biden (second from right), son of President Biden, and his attorney Abbe Lowell attend a House Oversight Committee meeting on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“We want to know who wrote what on the form,” Lowell told the court.
Noreika asked him: “Is there evidence that [Biden] Didn't you check the box?”
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An evidence photo shows Hunter Biden's signature certifying that he was eligible to purchase a gun in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 12, 2018. (US Department of Justice)
Lowell responded: “Now we know they altered that form… Cleveland accepted an ID he shouldn't have, and [Ron] palmieri [the gun store owner] The shape changed.”
“What matters is what your client put on the form,” Judge Noreika said.
Lowell again suggested that everything is “subject to examination.”
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A courtroom sketch depicting Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26, 2023. (Courtesy of William J. Hennessy, Jr.)
Noreika said he would decide later whether the physical form would be allowed as evidence, but seemed to agree that gun store employees could be tested.
“Why can't you question his credibility?” she asked.
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The trial will begin with jury selection on June 3, and both sides agreed it would last until approximately June 14, or possibly until next week.
As he left the courtroom, Hunter Biden, who sometimes wore tangerine reading glasses during the proceedings, patted cartoonist Bill Hennessy on the back and asked, “How are you doing?”
