Hunter Biden’s ongoing federal trial on gun charges has led to renewed focus on a voicemail in which his father, President Biden, urged his son to “get some help” — just three days after Hunter allegedly lied about his drug addiction to buy the firearm at the center of the cause.
Audio of Joe Biden’s message, which was previously recovered from Hunter Biden’s infamous abandoned laptop, was resurfaced by DailyMail.com as opening statements in the first son’s trial got underway in a Delaware courtroom Tuesday.
The younger Biden, 54, has pleaded not guilty to three felonies stemming from the Oct. 12, 2018, gun purchase he made when, according his own memoir, he was in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction.
The re-emergence of the voice message — dated Oct. 15, 2018, suggests the elder Biden was aware of his son’s dependency at the time.
“It’s Dad. I’m calling to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You’ve gotta get some help,” Biden can be heard telling his son in the audio.
“I don’t know what to do, I know you don’t either. I’m here, no matter what you need. No matter what you need, I love you.”
Prosecutors say Hunter illegally had the Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver in his possession for 11 days before Hallie Biden, his sister-in-law-turned-lover, tossed the weapon in the trash.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the voicemail, which was first made public by DailyMail.com and then broadcast by Fox News’ Sean Hannity two years ago, would be used by prosecutors as evidence during the trial.
During a pretrial conference last month, Judge Maryellen Noreika gave the go-ahead for prosecutors to show select information from Hunter’s laptop to the 12-person jury, while also permitting defense attorneys to object to evidence on a case-by-case basis.
Crucially, Noreika also ruled that prosecutors don’t have to prove that Hunter was high at the time of the purchase.
Prosecutors have also introduced passages from Hunter’s 2021 book, “Beautiful Things.”
Texts previously uncovered from Hunter’s laptop showed he corresponded with an individual who has a rap sheet, including gun charges, prior to making the firearm purchase.
The pair appeared to have met up a day after Hunter bought the weapon, the messages indicate.
It wasn’t clear, though, if those exact texts would be offered up as evidence, either.
Hunter — who was flanked in court Tuesday by his wife Melissa Cohen; his stepmother, first lady Jill Biden; and half-sister Ashley — faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted.
His trial is unfolding after the first son had been slated last year to plead guilty under the terms of an agreement with the Justice Department — that abruptly broke down after Hunter’s defense discovered it wouldn’t protect their client from other potential prosecutions.
Separately, Hunter is facing a trial in September out of Los Angeles for allegedly skipping out on paying $1.4 million in federal tax income between 2016 to 2019. He has since repaid that tab.