it s 11:00 eastern, and 8:00 a.m. pacific. i am ana cabrera in for josé diaz-balart. garland s appearance comes as house republicans recently advanced a bill to hold him in contempt of congress for not handsing over the audio recording of special counsel robert hur s interview with joe biden. i will not be intimidated and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to do our jobs free from political influence and we will not back down from defending democracy. joining us now, ali vitali from capitol hill, and you have been monitoring this all our, and a federal prosecutor and nbc news legal analyst also joining us. for those who are just joining us, what stands out to you so far from what has unfolded so far? think i the point we ended last hour making is the one we should take into the next part of the hearing. i expect the hearing to get back under way in the next few minutes, because jim jordan is a fast walker between here and the hearing floor
charges related to lying about his illegal drug use when he purchased a firearm back in 2018. hunter has pleaded not guilty to these charges. new developments in the last hour, the prosecutor, derrick heinz, revealed to the jury one of the witnesses they will hear from, a woman that had a romantic relationship with hunter. let s get more from mike memoli, and glenn hershner is back with us. we were aware we would be hearing from beau biden s wife with whom hunter had a romantic relationship after his death. now we have the identity of the third woman, a sex worker who also had a romantic relationship about hunter biden. jury selection was wrapped up yesterday ahead of schedule, and
we should note, those opening statements have now concluded and both sides delivered their messages. we anticipate witness testimony to begin shortly. glenn, part of the prosecution s opening message is that while drug addiction may not be a choice, lying and possessing a gun is a choice. they also added no matter who you are, no one is above the law. how effective could that be with the jury? it will be effective, and the question is, how will the defense go about defending hunter biden? i was trying to read the real time reporting of both the prosecutor and defense openings, and it looks like they have substantial evidence hunter biden unlawful purchased the game by indicating on the purchase form that he was not an addict or a user of illegal