A lawyer for the son of US President Joe Biden - Hunter Biden, said that his client will not testify in court in the reopened criminal trial against him on charges that in 2018 he concealed from the authorities that he was using drugs in order to buy a firearm, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Prosecutors adjourned the case until today after a series of court hearings last week in which witnesses detailed the younger of Biden's two sons' years of struggles with alcohol and crack cocaine.
Fifty-four-year-old Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to felony charges and to lying about his drug addiction when he filled out a form to buy a Colt Cobra revolver, and for the illegal possession of a firearm for 11 days.
The trial in Delaware District Court follows another case - Donald Trump's guilty plea on May 30 in the money-for-hush lawsuit in New York. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, will face Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Trump, as well as some of his Republican allies in the US Congress, say the case and three other criminal trials against him are politically motivated.
Democrats in Congress, in turn, are citing the indictment of Hunter Biden as evidence that President Joe Biden is not using the justice system for political or personal gain.
Last year, Hunter Biden stated in court that he had not used narcotic substances since 2019. His lawyer said today that he had no intention of deceiving anyone because by the time he bought the revolver he had already overcome his drug addiction.
In the US, similar crimes are punishable by sentences of 15 to 21 months in prison. However, according to some experts, defendants often receive lighter sentences, and if they comply with the terms of their pretrial release, the likelihood of them going to prison is small.