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FBI agent continues testifying about Hunter Biden’s drug use in gun trial

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Hunter Biden’s attorneys on Wednesday will continue their cross-examination of an FBI agent who detailed the president’s son’s alleged drug use through his own text messages, memoir and bank records during the first day of testimony in his federal gun trial. 

Members of the Biden family, including first lady Jill Biden, became emotional during the first day of testimony on Tuesday as excerpts from Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” played for jurors. 

In opening statements, prosecutors revealed personal details about Hunter Biden’s addiction and the Biden family, including that he introduced his brother’s widow Hallie Biden, with whom he became romantically involved, to crack cocaine. 

Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies stemming from his purchase of a revolver in October 2018. He is accused of making false statements on a federal gun form about his drug use, certifying he was not a user of or addicted to any controlled substance during a period when prosecutors allege he was addicted to crack cocaine. 

The gun was in his possession for 11 days before it was discarded in a trash can outside a grocery store by Hallie Biden. 

“On October 12, 2018, when the defendant filled out that form, he knew he was a drug addict,” prosecutor Derek Hines said during opening statements. “The law does not require us to prove that he was using drugs on that very day, just that he knew he was a drug user or a drug addict.” 

Hunter Biden’s attorneys have argued that prosecutors must prove that he was using drugs the day he bought the gun. The form uses the word “are,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in opening statements. 

“It does not say have you ever been, it does not say have you ever used,” Lowell said. 

FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen was the government’s first witness, testifying about the authenticity of a laptop that Hunter Biden left behind at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved. She said the laptop contained “evidence of addiction.” 

She read aloud Hunter Biden’s text messages that used coded language such as “baby powder” and “chore boy” to conceal his crack cocaine use as he appeared to be arranging to buy drugs in the months leading up to the gun purchase. 

The day after the gun purchase, she testified, Hunter Biden sent a message to Hallie Biden about “waiting for a dealer named Mookie.” The next day, he sent another to her that said, “I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney.” 

Jensen also testified that bank statements showed Hunter Biden withdrawing more than $151,000 in cash between September 2018 and November 2018. He made cash withdrawals on all but four days in October, the month he purchased the gun. He withdrew $5,000 on Oct. 12, 2018, the day he bought the gun. 

Lowell argued that Hunter Biden’s activities when he possessed the gun were inconsistent with crack cocaine use. Hunter Biden was also struggling with an alcohol addiction, Lowell said, noting that the federal forms do not ask about alcohol use. 

“There may be high functioning alcoholics, but there is no such thing as a high functioning crack addict,” Lowell said.



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What to expect from 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans

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What to expect from 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans – CBS News


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The 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture is underway in New Orleans. Janet Jackson, Usher and Birdman are among the headliners with Vice President Kamala Harris also set to make an appearance. Hakeem Holmes, vice president of the festival, joined CBS News to preview what’s in store for attendees.

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GOP, Democratic strategists on Biden’s next steps with calls for him to drop out growing

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GOP, Democratic strategists on Biden’s next steps with calls for him to drop out growing – CBS News


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President Biden will try to tamp down concerns about his campaign Friday with a rally in Wisconsin and an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos amid growing calls for him to end his reelection bid. Democratic strategist Joel Payne and Republican strategist Marc Lotter joined CBS News to discuss the president’s ongoing effort to recover from last week’s debate against former President Donald Trump.

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U.S. troops leaving Niger bases this weekend and in August after coup, officials say

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The U.S. will remove all its forces and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend and fewer than 500 remaining troops will leave a critical drone base in the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a number of small teams of 10-20 U.S. troops, including special operations forces, have moved to other countries in West Africa. But the bulk of the forces will go, at least initially, to Europe. 

United States Niger Troops
In this image by the U.S. Air Force, Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman speaks to military members in front of a “Welcome to Niamey” sign depicting U.S. military vehicles at Air Base 101 in Niger, May 30, 2024.

Tech. Sgt. Christopher Dyer / AP


Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for the U.S. because it is forcing troops to abandon the critical drone base that was used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel.

Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African nations want to work with the U.S. and may be open to an expanded American presence. He did not detail the locations, but other U.S. officials have pointed to the Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.

Ekman, who serves as the director for strategy at U.S. Africa Command, is leading the U.S. military withdrawal from the small base at the airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey and from the larger counterterrorism base in the city of Agadez. He said there will be a ceremony Sunday marking the completed pullout from the airport base, then those final 100 troops and the last C-17 transport aircraft will depart.

Speaking to reporters from The Associated Press and Reuters from the U.S. embassy in Niamey, Ekman said that while portable buildings and vehicles that are no longer useful will be left behind, a lot of larger equipment will be pulled out. For example, he said 18 4,000-pound (1,800-kilograms) generators worth more than $1 million each will be taken out of Agadez.

Unlike the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said the U.S. is not destroying equipment or facilities as it leaves.

“Our goal in the execution is, leave things in as good a state as possible,” he said. “If we went out and left it a wreck or we went out spitefully, or if we destroyed things as we went, we’d be foreclosing options” for future security relations.

NIGER-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-DEMO
Protesters hold up a sign demanding that U.S. troops leave Niger immediately during a demonstration in Niamey, Niger, April 13, 2024.

AFP via Getty


Niger’s ruling junta ordered U.S. forces out of the country in the wake of last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers. French forces had also been asked to leave as the junta turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security assistance.

Washington officially designated the military takeover as a coup in October, triggering U.S. laws restricting the military support and aid.



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