Northeast
Judge bars prosecutors from using some salacious evidence in Hunter Biden's gun trial
The judge presiding over Hunter Biden’s federal gun case in Delaware on Friday ruled that prosecutors on Special Counsel David Weiss’ team cannot use some salacious evidence in the first son’s criminal trial next month, including references to his U.S. Navy discharge and the child support case for his out-of-wedlock daughter in Arkansas.
The court met for its final hearing before jury selection begins on June 3. Fox News has previously reported that prosecutors planned to use portions of his book and laptop, including photos, to convince a jury that the first son is guilty of making false statements on a federal form when he purchased a revolver in 2018, while actively using narcotics. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Judge Maryellen Noreika on Friday said that Weiss must show Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs — but not necessarily using drugs the day he purchased the gun.
HUNTER BIDEN IS IN COURT IN DELAWARE. HERE’S WHAT HE DOESN’T WANT THE JURY TO HEAR
Noreika said the government may use part of Hunter Biden’s book where he discusses his addiction to drugs.
The prosecution does not plan to bring out the entire infamous laptop containing details of Hunter Biden’s life, but will introduce certain portions. Noreika ruled that Hunter Biden’s team will be able to question aspects of the laptop in front of the jury. The laptop, which leaked in 2020 just before the presidential election, was decried as Russian disinformation by 51 former intelligence officials.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, speaks to members of the media outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13, 2023. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In court documents filed Friday morning, Hunter Biden’s defense attorneys asked the court to block certain salacious details of his life from being shown to the jury to avoid “significant risk of unfair prejudice.”
In what is called a “motion in limine,” Hunter Biden asked the court “to exclude reference to the child support proceedings in Arkansas and reference to his discharge from the Navy.” This is in reference to the child he fathered out-of-wedlock with ex-stripper Lunden Roberts, whose daughter is President Biden’s grandchild.
Acknowledging that some of the evidence prosecutors wish to bring forward may be relevant to the case, including purported drug purchases, ATM withdrawals and the purchase of the revolver, Hunter Biden’s lawyers said other details like references to money allegedly spent on “adult entertainment, online chat rooms, or escort services are not relevant to the charges.”
IRS WHISTLEBLOWER SHAPLEY SAID HE ‘COULD NO LONGER PURSUE’ HUNTER BIDEN SUGAR BROTHER KEVIN MORRIS DUE TO CIA
“Characterizing or referencing unnecessary salacious details — such as how much things cost, whether they are upscale, or citing expenses concerning collateral alleged sexual conduct unrelated to the charges here — are the exact type of prejudicial, inflammatory evidence that has a tendency to make a conviction more likely because it provokes an emotional response in the jury,” the defense argued.
“Accordingly, Mr. Biden respectfully requests that this Court grant his Motion in limine to exclude any reference to an ‘extravagant’ or ‘lavish’ lifestyle during periods of his addiction,” his lawyers wrote.
Noreika agreed in part, and ruled that the special counsel cannot use the phrase “extravagant lifestyle,” but can include evidence Hunter Biden was spending a lot of money.
Noreika also ruled that the special counsel cannot discuss Hunter Biden’s discharge from the U.S. Navy. He was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
Noreika also said Weiss cannot use Hunter Biden’s comments from the day he initially pleaded guilty as part of a collapsed plea deal.
A courtroom sketch depicts Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26, 2023. (William J. Hennessy, Jr.)
According to Weiss’s gun indictment, Hunter Biden bought a Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, and “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm… certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”
The indictment also charges Hunter Biden with possessing that firearm — which was “shipped and transported in interstate commerce” — for nearly a week despite being addicted to narcotics.
With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware.
HUNTER BIDEN PRETRIAL HEARING ON GUN CHARGES SET FOR FRIDAY IN DELAWARE
A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News that it indicated that Hallie Biden, who is the widow of President Biden’s late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter Biden at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter Biden in a dumpster behind a market near a school.
Hallie Biden may be required to testify during Hunter Biden’s trial.
Noreika also decided Friday that Hunter Biden’s defense attorneys cannot tell the jury that Delaware state police declined to charge the first son at the time of the gun incident. Federal prosecutors did not bring charges against him on the matter until five years later.
Noreika also ruled that the special counsel cannot mention Hunter Biden’s pending federal tax trial in California during the trial in Delaware, which is also part of Weiss’ investigation and scheduled for a September trial.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to those charges — specifically, three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.
On Wednesday, Judge Mark Scarsi heard arguments during a pre-trial hearing in California. That criminal trial was scheduled for June 20, but Hunter Biden’s attorneys requested to delay the trial.
Scarsi sided with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, and moved the tax trial to Sept. 5, when jury selection will begin.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Boston police, federal agents and the National Park Service are investigating an incident involving a fire behind the historic African Meeting House, a landmark that is part of Boston’s Museum of African American History.
The National Park Service said it responded to the African Meeting House during the early morning hours of June 3 after an unidentified person was seen on surveillance video opening a package that had been left outside the building. Authorities said the individual removed some of the contents and burned several items in a small alley behind the structure.
Officials said there are no early indications the incident was an attempt to set fire to the building itself, but the case remains under active investigation.
The African Meeting House, built in 1806 on Beacon Hill, is recognized as the nation’s oldest surviving Black church building and is a National Historic Landmark.
“This has been a distressing situation, and quite sobering,” museum President and CEO Noelle Trent said.
Trent said the package contained materials intended for upcoming Juneteenth celebrations. According to the museum, the person scattered and burned some of the contents behind the building.
Outside the Museum of African American History, where a package fire was reported early Wednesday, June 4, 2026.
“A small ember would be devastating, not only for this building but also for the community around us,” Trent said.
Investigators from the Boston Police Department, the Boston Fire Department’s Arson Unit and federal authorities are working to determine a motive.
Trent said the incident is particularly concerning because of the building’s historical significance.
“We do not have many buildings like this in the country, so we are a physical marker and a reminder of the community and what happened here,” she said. “If this goes, there’s nothing else like it anywhere else in the world.”
NBC10 Boston NBC10 Boston Inside the Museum of African American History in Boston.
Mayor Michelle Wu also highlighted the importance of the African Meeting House and said the Civil Rights Division of the Boston Police Department is investigating.
“At a time of unrelenting attacks on Black history and Black communities, the Museum of African American History in Boston stands as a pillar of truth and conscience for our city and our country,” Wu said in a statement. “The African Meeting House — the oldest standing Black church in the United States — continues to be a home for important community convenings to this day. This disturbing incident of suspected arson is under investigation by the Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights Division, and hateful acts of violence will never be tolerated in Boston. The City of Boston stands firmly with Dr. Trent and the entire MAAH team, and we will not be intimidated in our work to make Boston a home for everyone.”
No injuries were reported. Authorities said additional information will be released as the investigation continues.
The search continues for a rare collection of Abraham Lincoln artifacts that went missing after a visit to Connecticut College in New London, including a letter written days after the president’s assassination.
Sameer Somal, a Lincoln enthusiast, said the artifacts disappeared Tuesday after he accidentally left the folder containing them on top of his car and drove away following interviews with fellow Lincoln scholars at Connecticut College.
“The plan was to interview them, and I was going to show them some of these artifacts,” Somal said.
Somal said he has spent years assembling the collection, which included portraits of Lincoln, original Civil War-era newspapers, and an original invitation to Lincoln’s 1864 inaugural ball.
Among the items was a document Somal described as especially significant.
“There was a letter, which is particularly precious, written on April 17th, 1865, from General William Tecumseh Sherman about the assassination of Mr. Lincoln,” Somal said.
After realizing the folder was missing, Somal contacted campus security. He said he was initially told the folder had been recovered, but later learned security had mistaken it for a book that had fallen from his car.
“I proceeded to look in the dark in my state of disappointment and trauma,” Somal said.
The next day, Somal made the five-hour trip back to New London and checked with the police. He believes the folder likely fell on or near the Connecticut College campus, but it has not been turned in.
Somal said the loss goes beyond the monetary value of the artifacts, as the collection was intended to serve as a centerpiece for a future museum dedicated to Lincoln in Illinois.
Now he is asking whoever found the folder to return it.
“I will do anything to get these items back and anything to help someone else in life if I can just get them back,” Somal said.
-
News1 minute agoHow Trump’s Proposed Arch Could Complicate D.C.’s Congested Airspace
-
Lifestyle34 minutes agoA new ‘Cape Fear’ remake rolls out one surprise after another
-
Technology46 minutes agoValve says it’s ready to launch the Steam Machine this summer
-
World49 minutes agoAs Hezbollah rejects truce, families on Israel’s northern border describe life under fire
-
Politics54 minutes agoRubio sanctions Cuban groups with ties to US nonprofit network funded by communist donor Neville Roy Singham
-
Health1 hour agoPeople taking common sleep drug may not realize they’re too impaired to drive, study finds
-
Sports1 hour agoSeth Jarvis scores overtime game-winner as Hurricanes storm back from 2-0 deficit to even Stanley Cup Final
-
Technology1 hour agoAre humanoid robots now coming for retail jobs?
