“Have you ever been” versus “are you.” That rhetorical distinction has been the theme of Abbe Lowell’s questioning of Starquest Shooter employee Gordon Cleveland, as he retook the stand this morning for continued cross-examination. 

Lowell has been walking through each of the questions under section 11 of the ATF form that Cleveland says he saw Hunter Biden fill out when he purchased the handgun. For each, he is making note of which ask questions of the purchaser in the present tense, “are you,” or the past tense, “have you ever been.” 

When he reached 11E, which asks, “are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to” a narcotic drug?

“To be clear, E is one of those ones that says are, A-R-E?” asked Lowell