Hunter Biden ‘acknowledged’ drug use: ex-wife, ex-girlfriend tell court about drug use in gun trial

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife last night revealed how she discovered her husband was abusing drugs after finding a crack pipe at their family home.

Kathleen Buhle told a US court she made the shocking discovery about President Joe Biden’s son in 2015 after he left the pipe in an ashtray.

Ms Buhle, 55, said that Hunter’s drug use was so pervasive she had to check his car whenever one of their three teenage daughters borrowed it in case he left drugs inside.

The jury also heard from a stripper who described Hunter, 54, going on a five-day bender while holed up in a Manhattan hotel.

The testimony unfolded at a courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware — the state that is home to the Biden clan.

Hunter — whose stepmother Jill Biden, the First Lady, 73, was in court — denies lying to a gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the weapon for 11 days. If convicted he faces up to 25 years in jail.

The trial comes amid his father’s campaign for a second term in the White House.

Under questioning, Ms Buhle, who divorced Hunter in 2017 after 24 years of marriage, said she first became aware he was using drugs in 2015 while they were living in Washington DC.

“I found a crack pipe... on an ashtray on the side porch of our home,’ she said.

In the previous year, she was “worried” and “scared” about him possibly using drugs after his exit from the Navy Reserve when he tested positive for cocaine.

Ms Buhle testified: “I went looking for my husband and asked him what it was and he said it was a crack pipe. He acknowledged smoking crack.”

Soon after, Hunter moved out but Ms Buhle became “ultra vigilant” about drugs being in the house or his vehicle.

She said: “When my daughters would use his car, I would check to make sure they weren’t driving a car with drugs in it.”

Ms Buhle said Hunter was “angry” when he was on drugs.

Prosecutor Leo Wise asked if her husband used the word “addiction” during couples therapy while they were still married. She replied: “Yes”.

According to Ms Buhle, she did not divorce Hunter until she became aware of “the infidelity”, referring to his affair with Hallie Biden — widow of his late brother Beau, who died of cancer in 2015.

The jury also heard from Zoe Kestan, an ex-stripper who dated Mr Biden after meeting him at a gentleman’s club in New York in 2017.

Ms Kestan said he was having a private dance with another stripper when she came in, adding that he was “incredibly charming” even though he was smoking crack.

Weeks later, she was invited by a friend to meet Hunter at the Soho Grand Hotel in Manhattan. Ms Kestan “felt a connection to him” and stayed there with him for five days.

She said he smoked crack every 20 minutes and called her a “distraction” from the drug.

Mr Biden faces a separate trial on tax charges in September in Los Angeles. He denies the allegations.

The trial continues.