Hunter Biden trial live: Jury sent home without reaching verdict as president's son faces brutal wait

Thank you for following DailyMail.com's live politics blog. The jury went home in Hunter Biden's gun crimes trial as the president's son waits for a verdict.

He faces up to 25 years in prison if he's convicted on three felony gun charges.

Here's what you missed today:

• Rudy Giuliani's latest mugshot released: 'America's Mayor' smirks in Arizona booking photo after he was indicted in fake electors scheme
• Shocking moment Nancy Pelosi admits SHE 'takes responsibility' for the National Guard not being deployed on January 6 in new footage
• John Fetterman and wife Gisele are hospitalized after Democratic senator rear-ended car on the highway
• Rudy Giuliani sparks fierce backlash after firing 'disgusting' insult towards Fani Willis at Christian event

The jury was sent out at around 3:32 p.m. ET to decide if Hunter Biden is guilty or not guilty of three federal firearms charges.

They were dismissed for the day after deliberating for just an hour.

The jury started deliberations after the judge read out instructions.

Now the wait for a verdict begins.

If Hunter is found guilty, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

Pelosi 'takes responsibility' for National Guard delay on January 6

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi admitted that she was responsible for the National Guard not being ready to deal with the January 6 Capitol riot.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi admitted that she was responsible for the National Guard not being ready to deal with the January 6 Capitol riot.

The bombshell admission comes nearly 3.5 years after the riot. Republicans say that the never-seen-before video undermines Democrats' claims that Trump was solely responsible for the security failures on January 6.

In a video shot by Pelosi's daughter, Alexandria, while the pair were escaping from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the former speaker can be seen saying 'Why weren't the National Guard there to begin with?'

'They clearly didn't know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more,' Pelosi said to her chief of staff Terri McCullough.

From Dailymail.com's Josh Boswell in Delaware criminal court:

Hunter exited arm-in-arm with his wife Melissa. His half-sister Ashley exited early, crying – not for the first time during the trial.

Hunter’s aunt Valerie Owens, with whom he is very close, wore dark sunglasses inside that concealed any tears.

Getting the last word in the arguments, prosecutor Derek Hines turned the case on its head, listing all the testimony he said the jury would have to believe were lies in order to acquit the defendant.

He said Hunter’s ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan would have to have lied about seeing Hunter use crack every 20 minutes in late September 2018, just a couple of weeks before he bought a gun – a lie that would have risked her immunity agreement with prosecutors.

Hines said Hunter would have had to have been lying in his text messages to Hallie that he was meeting a dealer and ‘smoking crack’ in the two days after he bought the gun.

Hunter would have had to have been lying in his own book, in which he said he ‘relapsed’ in September 2018 and continued using drugs in October.

The jury would need to believe Hunter’s ex-lover and brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, was lying when she said she found drug detritus and paraphernalia in Hunter’s truck on October 23.

From DailyMail.com's Josh Boswell in Delaware court:

Hunter Biden’s defense rested this morning – but prosecutors managed to drop one last bombshell to the jury.

After Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell confirmed they would not be calling Hunter’s uncle Jim Biden or any other witnesses, and Hunter himself would not be taking the stand, prosecutor Derek Hines stepped up to the podium to give a rebuttal.

He brought FBI agent Erika Jensen back to the stand and had her show the jury incriminating text messages of Hunter setting up an apparent drug deal at a 7/11 just one day before he bought his Colt Cobra revolver.

But DailyMail.com had already scooped the prosecution.

This morning we published a story with the texts – showing that Hunter’s conversation was with a violent drug dealer convicted in 2023 after a prosecution by David Weiss, the Special Counsel who charged Hunter.

Bombshell text messages Hunter Biden exchanged with drug dealer

Smoking gun texts show Hunter Biden set up a meeting with a convicted drug dealer the night before he purchased the revolver at the center of his federal court case.

Attorneys started closing arguments in Hunter Biden's gun trial after court resumed following a lunch break.

The prosecution is up first after bringing FBI agent Erika Jensen back to the stand.

'No one is above the law,' stated prosecutor Leo Wise.

He also told the jury to ignore the big wigs in the audience, including First Lady Jill Biden.

'All of this is not evidence. People sitting in the gallery are not evidence.'

Prosecutor Derek Hines began his rebuttal statement by rejecting defense suggestions that questioning of Naomi Biden was 'extraordinarily cruel'.

Hines said: 'Who called the defendant's daughter as a witness in this case? Not us.'

Naomi, 30, was called by the defense and then cross-examined by the prosecution.

Hines said several things defense attorney Abbe Lowell had said in his closing arguments were 'completely unfair'.

That also included suggesting that the jury has Hunter Biden's life in its hands.

Hines said that if Hunter Biden had simply been an addict struggling with personal problems 'we would not be here in this courtroom.'

Hunter instead is on trial for buying a gun and lying about being a drug addict when he did so, Hines said.

Hines told the jury the evidence clearly shows Hunter Biden had a pattern of illegal drug use at the time he bought the gun.

Prosecutors don't have to prove Hunter used drugs on the day he bought the gun or that he was under the influence while in the gun store, he said.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell compared the government's case to the work of a magician.

They focused attention on drug use from months or years before the gun purchase to create the illusion that Hunter Biden was a user of crack cocaine when he bought the weapon, he said.

'They blurred all those years before he walked into StarQuest Shooters and all those years after,' Lowell told the jury.

Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell made a heartfelt appeal to the jury to find his client not guilty.

As he ended his closing argument Lowell said: 'The burden of proof is always on the prosecution. With my last breath in this case I ask for the only verdict that will hold the prosecutors to what the law requires of them.'

The fact his client has a famous last name doesn't mean he is less entitled to his rights than any other defendant, Lowell said.

He also told jurors they should consider testimony by Hallie Biden and Zoe Kestan under grants of immunity 'with great care and caution.'