Hunter Biden’s Former Partners Describe the Toll of His Drug Abuse

As the government deepens its argument against Hunter Biden, prosecutors have started calling his former partners to the stand Wednesday, inviting them to air unflattering details of his life and the depths of his addiction to crack cocaine.

In their effort to prove that Biden lied about his drug use on a federal firearms application in 2018, prosecutors summoned Biden’s former wife, Kathleen Buhle, who testified that Biden “wasn’t himself” when he took drugs, describing him as angry and short-tempered. Zoe Kestan, who dated Biden from December 2017 to October 2018, also took the stand, sharing details of his wild behavior during drug binges in New York City in a sordid, nearly cinematic description.

Here’s what else to know:

The charges: Biden is charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the federal firearms application and possessing an illegally obtained gun in October 2018. If convicted, Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. But nonviolent first-time offenders who have not been accused of using the weapon in another crime rarely receive serious prison time for the charges.

An ex-wife’s testimony : Buhle, who is locked in a yearslong fight with Biden over alimony payments, testified over less than 30 minutes about her relationship with him and his struggles with alcoholism and addiction. Buhle and Biden divorced in 2017 after nearly a quarter-century of marriage and have three daughters together.

The government’s case : It turns on a relatively straightforward question: whether Biden was abusing drugs when he filled out the federal firearms application claiming he was not an “unlawful user” of controlled substances. “Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice,” Derek Hines, a top deputy to the special counsel, David C. Weiss, told jurors Tuesday.

Unflattering details : Prosecutors have signaled they also plan to call Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden’s onetime girlfriend and the widow of his brother Beau. She is likely to be asked about the anguish of watching Hunter Biden spiral back into drug addiction and the shock she experienced when she discovered the gun in his truck, fueling fears that he would use it to kill himself.

Hunter Biden’s defense : His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said he would disprove the government’s core contention that Biden “knowingly” broke the law by answering “no” on a question asking applicants whether they were using drugs at the time they sought to purchase a gun.

The Biden family: The presence of Biden’s family and friends, including his mother, Jill Biden, who appeared Wednesday in a hot pink pantsuit, has underscored how the trial, one of two that he faces this year, is all but certain to be a painful and personal ordeal for President Joe Biden’s family. The other trial, expected to begin in Los Angeles in September, centers on a series of tax offenses related to Hunter Biden’s failure to file returns for a number of years.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .