WILMINGTON, Del. >> Jill Biden, wearing a purple blazer and scribbling on a white legal pad, sat in the first row of a drab fourth-floor courtroom Monday, in a show of support for her son, Hunter, on the first day of his trial on federal firearms charges.

The first lady, who followed hours of mundane interviews with dozens of prospective jurors with rapt attention, rose to her feet when the judge called a short break about halfway through. She walked slowly over to her son, offered a long hug, then stroked his cheek.

The opening hours of jury selection in Hunter Biden’s trial on charges that he lied about his drug use in applying to buy a handgun in 2018 were, as expected, a high-stakes political spectacle — with a throng of reporters crowding the courthouse while TV crews did live shots, nearly nonstop, after sunrise.

But the presence of Biden’s family and friends, including his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, his half sister, Ashley Biden, and his close friend Kevin Morris, served as a reminder that the trial was also a profound personal crisis for a family that has had more than its share of travails — in the middle of the most unforgiving presidential campaign in recent memory.

President’s statement

“Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” President Joe Biden said in a statement issued after the proceeding began.

“Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us,” added Biden, who spent Sunday night with his son at the family house in Wilmington, Del. “Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I are going to continue to be there for Hunter and our family with our love and support.”

Who will testify

The special counsel overseeing the prosecution, David Weiss, has signaled that he will call Hunter Biden’s former wife, Kathleen Buhle, who is locked in a long legal battle with him over unpaid alimony, according to prosecutors.

A top deputy to Weiss, Leo Wise, has filed court papers indicating that he also plans to call Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother, Beau. Hallie Biden was dating Hunter Biden when he bought the handgun at issue in the case.

By midafternoon, Judge Maryellen Noreika had selected 34 potential jurors, more than double the number needed to deliberate, including alternates.

Politics in play

The case is going to trial following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has argued he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department, after Republicans decried the now-defunct plea deal as special treatment for the Democratic president’s son.

The proceedings also are unfolding just days after Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, and Joe Biden’s rival for the presidency, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. A jury found the former president guilty of a scheme to cover up a hush money payment to a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.

Jury selection moved at a clip. The pool was chosen from roughly 65 people. Those who answered “yes” on an initial questionnaire were quizzed individually by Noreika to determine whether they could be fair and impartial. Their names were not made public.

The questions tested their knowledge of the case, surveyed their thoughts about gun ownership and inquired whether they or anyone close to them have struggled with substance abuse or addiction. Other questions focused on the role politics may have played in the charges.

The indictment

Last September, a federal grand jury charged Hunter Biden with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the federal firearms application used to screen applicants and possessing an illegally obtained gun for 11 days, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, 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 get serious prison time for the charges.

Legal experts say it is more likely a sentence could include a central element of the original plea deal — mandatory enrollment in a firearms diversion program intended to reduce incarceration rates for the least serious gun crimes.

Biden has been sober for years and has written about his difficulty with crack addiction and alcohol dependency in his memoir, which is likely to be used as evidence. Over the past year, the president’s son has submitted to drug testing and passed, according to his lawyer Abbe Lowell.

The gun charges are related to whether Biden had lied on a standard form issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when he bought a .38-caliber pistol. Prosecutors said he falsely claimed he was not taking drugs at the time. Biden had the gun for under two weeks, he has said, before Hallie Biden tossed it in a dumpster, fearful that he would use it to harm himself.

It is relatively rare for such gun charges to be brought against a first-time, nonviolent offender like Biden, unless it is being used as leverage for a confession on other crimes, such as drug trafficking, current and former prosecutors have said.

The gun trial is only the first of two Biden is facing.

Tax case pending

Hunter Biden also faces a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.

Both cases were to have been resolved through the deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.

But Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, questioned some unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed. The lawyers could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart.

Last month, the federal judge in Los Angeles who is presiding over his tax case agreed to push the start of that trial from later this month to Sept. 5, giving Biden’s lawyers time to prepare. Biden has pleaded not guilty to charges of evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return.

Noreika tightly controlled her courtroom Monday, much as she did during the hearing that ended Biden’s plea agreement last July, and showed every indication of wanting to move things along as quickly as possible.

When the court took a break for lunch, Hunter Biden walked over to his mother and leaned over the railing that separates the audience from the trial participants to hug and kiss her on the cheek. Monday was the first lady’s 73rd birthday.

Associated Press reports were used in this story.