Northeast

Hunter Biden trial enters day 4 after wild testimony from exes on rampant drug use, trashed hotel rooms

Published

2 years ago

June 8, 2024

Hunter Biden trial enters day 4 after wild testimony from exes on rampant drug use, trashed hotel rooms

WILMINGTON, DEL. — Details about Hunter Biden’s relationship with a 24-year-old stripper, his need for crack cocaine every 20 minutes and how his spiraling addiction torpedoed his first marriage were on full display for the jury as it considers the first son’s three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018.

“He would want to smoke the second he woke up,” Biden’s ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, testified Wednesday. She met Biden when she worked at a gentleman’s club in New York City when she was 24 and he was 48.

The court heard continued testimony from FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen on Wednesday, as well as from Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Kestan and gun shop employee Gordon Cleveland, as prosecutors worked to prove to the jury Biden lied about his drug addiction when he filled out a federal form to buy a Colt revolver gun in 2018.

Biden is facing charges of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally-licensed gun dealer and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS 3RD DAY WITH CROSS-EXAMINATION OF FBI AGENT

Hunter Biden arrives to federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, on June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Biden pleaded not guilty in the case.

The total maximum prison time for the three charges could be up to 25 years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

Kestan detailed in her testimony that she met Biden in December 2017 after he booked a private room for 30 minutes at the strip club where she worked, ultimately sparking a relationship with the man she described as “charming and charismatic.” Kestan, who testified under immunity, walked the jury through Biden’s rampant drug abuse throughout their relationship, including him smoking crack in hotel rooms, stealing away to public bathrooms to smoke crack and how she helped pick up drugs for him. She said the crack cocaine he purchased often was the size of a “ping pong ball,” which he broke into pieces and lit up in glass pipes.

‘LIKE A SON’: FORMER TOP BIDEN ADVISER WITH DEEP BUSINESS TIES TO CHINA SPOTTED INSIDE HUNTER BIDEN GUN TRIAL

Kestan described that Biden was a “super charming” man when she first met him and that she was “confused” about how he was able to appear coherent and cognizant after smoking the hard drug.

“I didn’t notice it. Sometimes I think that’s because I was catching feelings for him,” she told the court.

Kestan said their whirlwind relationship was a “distraction” for Biden, as he allegedly smoked less when they were hidden away, sometimes for days at a time, in ritzy hotel rooms such as New York City’s Four Seasons or in a bungalow at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont.

Kestan detailed the rise and fall of their relationship, including how he called on her to clean up one of the trashed hotel rooms that was littered with crack residue, pipes, snacks and alcohol. He also asked her to pick up his car after it was towed in Los Angeles in 2018.

HUNTER BIDEN’S WIFE LASHES OUT AT FORMER TRUMP AIDE DURING COURT APPEARANCE: ‘PIECE OF S—‘

A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)

Accompanying Kestan’s testimony were photos depicting crack pipes in hotel rooms often sitting next to bottles of liquor or beer, a photo of a bare-chested Biden in a bubble bath with Kestan and a screenshot of a FaceTime video showing Biden’s back tattoo that resembled claw marks. The jurors were told amid Kestan’s remarks that Biden learned how to cook crack cocaine, and they were shown a photo of baking soda in one hotel room used to cook cocaine into crack.

Kestan said Biden often spoke about how he was an addict and wished to get sober, including his attempt to purge his body of drugs with frog venom called “kambo.”

HUNTER BIDEN’S DRUG USE: WHAT THE PROSECUTION NEEDS TO PROVE AND WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW

Though Kestan knew Biden before and after purchasing the Colt revolver in October 2018, the pair did not speak the month of the purchase, rekindling their relationship in November 2018 before it officially ended.

A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden’s trial in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)

Buhle, Biden’s ex-wife of more than 20 years with whom she shares three daughters, also took the stand Wednesday. Buhle and Biden divorced in 2017 after Buhle found a crack pipe on the side porch of their home in Washington, D.C., in 2015, she told the court.

Buhle was soft-spoken and appeared emotional during her testimony as she detailed her suspicions of his rampant drug use after he was discharged from the Navy Reserves for testing positive for cocaine and the subsequent death of their marriage. “I was definitely worried, scared,” she said, describing how she would scour his car for drugs and drug paraphernalia to ensure their daughters would not drive the vehicle around with the substances.

Buhle said following the discovery of a crack pipe at their home in 2015, they participated in couple’s therapy before the marriage ended. Buhle said she does not remember the date they officially terminated their marriage, only saying it occurred on Good Friday of 2017.

HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL: 9 KEY FIGURES WHO MAY TESTIFY

Hunter Biden’s former wife, Kathleen Buhle, departs the federal courthouse after taking the stand during Biden’s trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware, June 5, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Buhle was on the stand the shortest amount of time among witnesses and deeply exhaled as she quickly left the courtroom Wednesday morning.

Jurors were apparently rapt by Buhle’s presence in the court following relatively dry continued testimony from Special Agent Jensen, who discussed Wells Fargo bank records early Wednesday morning. Nearly all the jurors were jotting down notes or at least holding their notepads and pens when Buhle first took the stand.

Following testimony from Hunter’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, prosecutors next called on Cleveland, the gun shop employee who sold Biden the revolver in October 2018.

US V HUNTER BIDEN: OPENING STATEMENTS TO BEGIN IN FIRST SON’S FEDERAL GUN TRIAL AFTER JURY SEATED

Cleveland, who previously worked as a salesman at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington, detailed the sequence of events on Oct. 12, 2018, down to the detail of Biden driving a black Cadillac the day of the purchase.

“I like guns, and I like cars,” Cleveland told the court when asked how he remembers what Biden was driving. The comment elicited chuckles among the jury, members of the media and others in the courtroom.

Gordon Cleveland departs federal court Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Cleveland said Biden entered the store late in the afternoon in 2018 with the intention of buying a gun. Biden bought a Cobra Colt .38, a box of ammunition, a speed loader for the gun and a BB gun.

Cleveland said he gave Biden a federal gun form to fill out, explaining he instructed him to take his time and answer the form “truthfully.” Cleveland said he was about two feet from Biden as he filled out the form, including question 11 E, which asked whether he was an unlawful user of or addicted to drugs. Biden checked the box that said he was not addicted to drugs.

A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden’s trial in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)

Cleveland laughed when defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked if he was “familiar with the phrase whale hunter?”

“Yes,” he responded, chuckling before arguing that although he “didn’t do up-sales,” he was able to sell expensive guns to customers, such as two Desert Eagles, in a single day.

When asked if Cleveland often sold ammunition along with a gun sale, the court again broke into laughter over the former salesman’s response.

HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TRIAL ON FEDERAL GUN CHARGES BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION

”What are you gonna do? Throw [a gun] at somebody?” he quipped, noting ammo was often sold alongside a gun.

In opening statements on Tuesday, the defense team argued Biden’s gun purchase was hurried by gun shop employees seeking to make a sale. Cleveland, however, was confident in his responses to Lowell on Wednesday that Biden was the one to ultimately choose the Colt revolver, the ammo and speed loader. The purchase of the BB gun, he said, was a decision solely made by Biden. The BB gun is one that had the appearance of an actual handgun, lacking the traditional orange tip found on most other BB guns.

Jurors were shown the gun, box of ammunition and speed loader in court Wednesday.

Biden was joined by stepmother Jill Biden for the third day. She again took a front-row seat behind the first son. She wore a bright pink suit and matching heels, casually chatting with family members and allies throughout the day, but she sat quietly with her legs crossed and hands clasped over her knees. She was again seated next to Biden’s second wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.

Hunter Biden, left, departs federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Court resumes Thursday at 9 a.m. with continued cross-examination of Cleveland. Prosecutors announced late Wednesday they have six additional witnesses who will take the stand and could rest their case as soon as Thursday afternoon.

Biden’s former romantic partner and sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s widow, could be among witnesses who take the stand Thursday.

The defense team’s witnesses will take the stand after prosecutors rest their case.

Read the full article from Here

New York

History of Domestic Abuse Can be Considered in Sentencing, Court Rules

Published

3 hours ago

April 24, 2026

Press Room

History of Domestic Abuse Can be Considered in Sentencing, Court Rules

In 2019, New York’s legislature passed a law that allowed judges to consider a defendant’s documented history of surviving domestic abuse when determining what sentence to impose. If the judges found that the history played a role in the crime, they were able to reduce the sentences.

Since the law was enacted, prosecutors across the state, though, have at times requested that defendants waive that right in order to receive a plea deal and to avoid a trial.

But in an opinion on Thursday, New York’s highest court said prosecutors could not make defendants give up that right. In the 4-to-3 decision, written by Judge Jenny Rivera, the majority found that forcing a defendant to waive the right deprived them of the benefits of the 2019 law.

The practice “threatens to essentially eviscerate the statute by excluding the overwhelming majority of defendants who have suffered domestic violence,” Judge Rivera wrote.

Thursday’s decision also highlighted how an overwhelming majority of cases in the legal system end in plea agreements, rather than being decided at a trial. As of 2019, 96 percent of felonies and 99 percent of misdemeanors ended in a plea, according to state data.

The decision is one of the rare times that the state’s highest court has acknowledged a defendant’s rights cannot be set aside as part of a plea agreement, said Paris C. DeYoung, an attorney with Legal Aid who argued before the judges on behalf of the petitioner in the case.

“It’s very hard in our system to get the court to protect certain rights from waiver,” she said. “We’re excited that this sort of opens the door for folks to continue to pursue things that they are entitled to without having to deal with just another waiver on their plates.”

The case at the heart of the appeal was that of Nicole Hudson, who was charged with second-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault for running over her sister’s girlfriend with a car while fleeing her abusive ex-boyfriend. She took a plea deal and waived her right to have the abuse she had dealt with considered in her sentencing.

In a statement on Thursday, Ms. Hudson said the decision “has given me my life back.” Waiving away her ability to have the hearing before she was sentenced was “an injustice not just for me, but also for my child and for my family,” she said.

Oren Yaniv, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Ms. Hudson’s case, said the office was concerned the decision “will make it harder to resolve appropriate cases early.”

“Crime victims and surviving relatives deserve finality, clarity and a process that does not unnecessarily prolong painful experiences,” he said.

The law the decision aims to protect, the Domestic Violence Survivor’s Justice Act, was passed in 2019, when progressive Democrats had taken control of New York’s Legislature.

It allowed some defendants to have their history of domestic violence to be considered during sentencing if they showed that they were largely influenced by their abuse at the time of the crime. The judge could sentence the defendants to receive less prison time than what the law called for or alternative incarceration programs. It also gave people already in prison the opportunity to apply for resentencing.

The law came as crime in New York hit historic lows, and the Legislature overhauled parts of the state’s bail law and compelled prosecutors to hand over reams of case material to defense lawyers in a timely manner. However, as crime inched up after the pandemic, and after a public shift in sentiment on crime, lawmakers began to make changes to the policies. Both laws have been amended.

Ms. Hudson’s case began in 2019. She was at an outdoor party by her home when her abusive ex-boyfriend arrived. After an altercation broke out, during which her former boyfriend was injured, Ms. Hudson fled to her car and tried to escape. As she began driving away, she ran over her sister’s girlfriend, striking her three times and dragging her body down the street under the car. The woman was left permanently paralyzed and Ms. Hudson was charged with second-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault.

While her case was pending, Ms. Hudson, 34, asked that her history be reviewed by the court to see if she would be eligible to be sentenced under the domestic violence law. Her lawyers requested that the court sentence her to six months of incarceration and five years of probation.

Ms. Hudson’s lawyers included supporting information in her application, including a psychological report that said Ms. Hudson had experienced “repeated psychological and physical abuse” at the hands of her former boyfriend, who is also the father of her child. The first instance of physical abuse occurred when she was 20 years old and five months pregnant, the report found. His physical and verbal abuse escalated after.

While her application was pending before the court, Ms. Hudson was offered a plea deal through the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, offering her five years in prison and five years of probation. Their agreement, according to the opinion, was on the condition that she waive her right to the hearing to determine if she could get a reduced sentence.

Her lawyers objected to the provision, and the judge overseeing the trial also “expressed concern as to whether a defendant may waive,” the opinion said. However, the judge ultimately concluded that Ms. Hudson could waive her right and the court accepted her plea in 2021.

After she was sentenced, Ms. Hudson appealed, but the state’s Appellate Division found that the right could be waived. But the four judges on the state’s highest court on Thursday said that they agreed with a decision in another case that found some rights were “too valuable, both to the [defendant] and to the community, to be sacrificed in plea bargaining.”

Ms. Hudson said she was now “excited to finally have the chance to tell my story. I know that I caused great harm, and I take full accountability for that.”

“I also know that my actions came from my years of abuse,” she said.

But, in a dissent on Thursday, Judge Anthony Cannataro argued that a remedy should come from legislators and not from the judiciary.

Ms. Hudson’s case is an example of the sentencing law working, Judge Cannataro said, because she was offered the very lowest end of the ordinary sentencing range, “despite the serious and lifelong injuries that defendant inflicted.” Now, as a result of the decision, and the likelihood that prosecutors will withdraw the agreement, Ms. Hudson “may find herself subject to a far longer sentence than she agreed to,” he said.

There may still be survivors who will choose to plead guilty instead of going through the process to see if their case could be determined using the sentencing law, said Kate Mogulescu, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and part of the Surviors Justice Project.

“But what is not allowed now is for prosecutors to foreclose that,” she said. “That is an important distinction.”

Boston, MA

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins Boston Mayor Wu, Ayanna Pressley to slam Trump’s childcare funding cuts

Published

4 hours ago

April 24, 2026

Press Room

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins Boston Mayor Wu, Ayanna Pressley to slam Trump’s childcare funding cuts

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joined progressive allies and squad members U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to call for more federal funding for childcare amid cutbacks by the Trump administration.

Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congresswoman who traveled to Massachusetts this week, appeared Friday alongside Pressley and Wu at Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury for a story time classroom visit, roundtable discussion, and media availability, where they questioned the Trump administration’s priorities.

“We know that families are experiencing greater financial hardship and economic anxiety and vulnerabilities each and every day because of the hostilities of this administration that are not focused on the things that matter most, and that is affordability,” Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said at the daycare center. “Increasingly, everything is through the roof and that includes the cost of childcare.

“We have an occupant in the Oval Office that says we have to fund a war that we don’t even know why we’re there, but we cannot afford to pay for childcare when that is our most important infrastructure,” Pressley added. “All the data bears out that investment is the greatest return on investment.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in January froze access to certain federal childcare and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York “following serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs,” the federal agency said in a press release at the time.

Locally, the Massachusetts Head Start Association’s executive director, Michelle Haimowitz, issued a statement earlier this month in response to Trump’s federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 that she said was “making it more difficult for our Head Start programs in Massachusetts by flat-funding Head Start nationally.”

“The federal government’s failure to provide our programs with much-needed funding has led to workforce shortages and difficulties in providing education and services to our students,” Haimowitz said at the time.

Ocasio-Cortez said Friday, “Over the last year, between the president’s efforts on DOGE, cutting services across health care, childcare, education, we see the Department of Education itself under threat by this administration.

“I don’t think that the president’s administration right now is friendly to Head Start, which is why it is incumbent upon us, and why we are stepping up in this moment to make sure that we are defending the state of Massachusetts, and frankly, the United States of America, the state of New York in those investments because investing in our children now is also an investment in those families.

“There are some things that should just not be on the table and Head Start is one of them,’ Ocasio-Cortez added.

Wu, who gave birth to her third child in January, spoke of her administration’s efforts to expand pre-school education in Boston and how that availability can help relieve the challenges of being a parent.

“We know the uptake in terms of when our families have access to universal pre-K through our Boston pre-K program, the uptake then into kindergarten and into the Boston Public Schools is higher than ever before,” Wu said. “We see this not as a separate issue from public education or from housing or from workforce development. It’s really one and the same.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez play with puppets after reading a book to the children at Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

Source link

Pittsburg, PA

Enthusiasm continues for 2nd day of NFL Draft in Pittsburgh

Published

5 hours ago

April 24, 2026

Press Room

Enthusiasm continues for 2nd day of NFL Draft in Pittsburgh

Crowds lined both sides of the Allegheny River on the second day of the NFL Draft Experience, as fans poured into Point State Park shortly after gates opened, filling the riverfront with a steady buzz and early arrivals.

While Point State Park grew crowded within the first hour Friday, the Draft Theater area near Acrisure Stadium built more slowly, with groups trickling in and the space still less than a quarter full well into the afternoon.

Attendees kept the energy high as festivities continued across Pittsburgh.

Stephanie Enz, 35, of Huntersville, said her family left the fan area Thursday night after exploring to watch the draft on television. She said Friday’s weather was too nice to skip the second day.

“I’m surprised how many Pittsburgh Steelers fans there are compared to everyone else from other teams,” Enz said. “I feel like watching the last few years, it was more of a mix of other fans.”

Fans cheer in Point State Park’s NFL Draft Experience area in the hope of receiving a free T-shirt on Friday, April 24. (Megan Trotter | TribLive)

Crowds gathered in and around Downtown, with activities in full swing by 10 a.m. Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp. held live blacksmithing demonstrations in Market Square, classic cars were on display, and the city’s tourism company, Visit Pittsburgh, set up a wall for fans to write on.

Mike and Sue Hacke of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County arrived in Pittsburgh Friday morning.

The couple grabbed sandwiches at the Original Oyster House in Market Square and soaked in the updated area while waiting for gates to open for the Draft Experience at noon.

Mike Hacke, 67, grew up in Homestead but said it had been about 40 years since he was last in Pittsburgh. He said he was impressed by the improvements made to the city in preparation for the draft.

“I was in Philly a couple years ago when it was there, and I think that this is much better than what Philly did,” Mike Hacke said.

Just before opening, football fans moved in droves from Market Square to line up at Point State Park, located just outside the Wyndham Grand Hotel.

The area inside the park was expanded from Thursday’s setup. The red carpet that had stretched across the entire space in front of the steps to the Point was split into two sections Friday, opening access to the Point State Park Fountain.

As groups moved through the park, many gravitated toward the newly opened space, eventually sitting to take in the view and posing for photos with the fountain and stadium in the background.

Rick Wilson, 65, and his wife Maureen, 62, took selfies in their Philadelphia Eagles jerseys while standing on the steps leading down to the fountain.

The couple, from Finleyville Borough in Washington County, said Steelers fans were generally friendly.

“I think everybody’s very nice and have been very polite,” Rick Wilson said, noting only a few lighthearted comments here and there.

“We kind of took their pick last night,” he added.

On Thursday night, the Philadelphia Eagles selected USC wide receiver Makai Lemon, who had been on the phone with representatives from the Steelers as Pittsburgh’s first-round pick approached.

Rick Wilson, 65, and his wife, Maureen, 62, take photos in their Philadelphia Eagles jersey at the Point State Park Fountain on Friday, April 24. (Megan Trotter | TribLive)

Part of the red carpet at Point State Park was open to the public, allowing fans to walk it and take photos where draft prospects had strutted the night before.

On their second day at the draft experience, Jessica, 46, and Matthew Light of Hershey took a stroll down the carpet.

“I noticed it from yesterday, and I figured we’d get a photo opportunity and take a memory home with us,” said Matthew Light, 46.

Across the river, about a dozen people had nestled into the concrete with their backs against the draft stage barricade.

Hunter Enders, 30, and Meghan Crosby, 27, arrived at the area around 2 p.m. to be in the first row once the draft begins at 7 p.m.

The two were in the third row the night before and said that, despite record-breaking crowds, the atmosphere remained friendly, with no shoving or safety concerns around them.

While the stage area was far less crowded than the footprint across the way, smaller groups still gathered outside the elevator platform where media and commentators were broadcasting.

Rapper Wiz Khalifa, a Pittsburgh native, joined a sports broadcast, waving to the small crowd gathered below on the asphalt.

Wiz Khalifa was scheduled to perform at 5:15 p.m. Friday, ahead of the second round’s start.

Fans watch as Pat McAfee records his show Friday afternoon live from the NFL Draft Experience area on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. (Ember Duke | TribLive)

Source link