The government blocked her case Hunter Biden in Wilmington on Friday, and the defense called Naomi Biden, his daughter, to the stand.
Her vulnerable testimony underscored the family dynamics of the trial: Hunter Biden’s ex-wife testified, as did his former lover — his brother’s widow. Most days, First Lady Jill Biden has watched from the courtroom.
Hunter Biden faces two firearms felonies on charges that he lied about his drug use when he filled out a form needed to purchase a revolver in October 2018, as well as an additional felony charge of illegally possessing the gun while in addiction was on controlled substances. To convict the president’s son, prosecutors must prove he was an unlawful user or addicted to controlled substances when he bought the gun.
His defense has admitted he was addicted before and after he bought the gun, but has tried to build a wall around that month, arguing he wasn’t using drugs at the time and didn’t knowingly lie on the form.
Hunter Biden’s daughter testifies
To that end, attorneys called 30-year-old Naomi and Hunter’s eldest child to the witness stand Friday morning.
She spoke softly and apologized for being nervous at the beginning of her testimony. She said she had not spoken to her father for several months in the summer of 2018 when she took her boyfriend — whom she would later marry — to meet him in California in August.
Hunter was undergoing drug treatment at the time. They met at a coffee shop and spent the afternoon shopping together.
“He seemed the clearest since my uncle died,” Naomi said of her father, noting that she also met his “down-to-earth coach” – like a sponsor – during the visit. “He seemed really great.”
She saw him again in New York in October and told the jury he seemed to be doing well, saying he seemed “hopeful.”
Yet prosecutors painted a different picture during Naomi’s cross-examination, using text messages to undermine the defense’s story that Hunter had a period of sobriety in the fall of 2018.
According to Naomi’s testimony, she borrowed her father’s truck in October to move Peter from Washington DC to New York, where he moved in with her. The plan was for Hunter to drive to New York. He would take what Naomi called “Pop’s car,” referring to a black Cadillac leased by her grandfather, President Joe Biden. Once in New York, the two would switch cars.
Prosecutor Leo Wise read through a series of text messages between Naomi Biden and her father in her efforts to plan the car swap. The first messages began mid-afternoon on October 17, with Naomi inquiring when Hunter wanted to swap vehicles. She didn’t get an answer until almost midnight that day.
Then, around 2 a.m. on October 18, Hunter texted his daughter asking if they could meet at Fifth Avenue and West 57th Street to trade the cars. She responded asking if he meant at that hour, but didn’t hear back until later that day.
Wise seized on the 2 a.m. messages.
“Do you know what your father did at two in the morning and why he asked for the car?” Wise asked pointedly.
He then replied to text messages sent later that day, in which Naomi tried to make plans for Peter and Hunter to swap cars. In the messages, Naomi asked if she would see her father during his short trip to New York. He answered no, although she testified Friday that she believed he said no to another investigation she had done.
Still, she wrote back: “So I don’t see you?!” That message was followed by an “unfortunate sight,” Wise said.
Wise also read a text message around the same time in which Naomi told Biden, “I’m sorry, I can’t handle this. I miss you very much. I just want to hang out with you.”
Her father replied, “I’m sorry I’ve been so out of touch. It’s not fair to you.”
Wise’s questions seemed to imply that Hunter was avoiding his daughter, asking Naomi if she knew if during this time he was “meeting with someone named Frankie” — a man who, according to previous testimony, sold drugs to Hunter in New York in early 2018 . .
The prosecution rests on Friday
Before Naomi Biden’s testimony, prosecutors rested their case after three and a half days of testimony from ten witnesses.
Three were Hunter Biden’s former lovers: his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan and Hallie Biden, his brother’s widow and his ex-girlfriend. Kestan and Hallie Biden gave perhaps the most damning testimony.
Hunter Biden Trial: Ex-wife and ex-girlfriend describe his drug use and struggle with sobriety
Kestan testified to Hunter Biden’s frequent drug use in the summer of 2018 and even in September after a stint in rehab. Hallie Biden also testified about text messages from October 2018, the same month Hunter Biden bought the gun, in which he told her in one message that he was waiting for a dealer and smoked crack on a car in another message that came days after he got the gun had purchased, was shipped.
She also told the jury that she allegedly found drug paraphernalia and residue with Hunter Biden’s gun before throwing it away at a local supermarket.
This immediately undermines the defense’s argument that Hunter Biden did not use drugs in October and therefore did not knowingly lie on the form he filled out to purchase the revolver.
Trial Coverage: Hallie Biden testifies to drug use and gun discovery
Prosecutors also introduced excerpts from Hunter Biden’s memoir, in which he details his struggles with addiction in 2018 and the years that followed. They’ve also introduced dozens of text messages and that a DEA agent testified Friday shows Hunter Biden is arranging drug deals. Aside from the two messages to Hallie Biden in October, the messages were mainly sent before and after October 2018.
An FBI special agent also testified to large cash withdrawals by Hunter Biden, which prosecutors say are consistent with someone regularly buying drugs.
The prosecution’s case also included testimony from employees of StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, the Talleyville store where Hunter Biden purchased the gun, as well as testimony from police responsible for recovering the gun after Hallie Biden stole it 11 days after purchasing it. had thrown in the trash.
The Delaware man who found the gun while rummaging through grocery store trash also testified Thursday.
What comes next:
It is unclear whether Hunter Biden’s defense team will call more witnesses. In his opening statement, attorney Abbe Lowell said James Biden, the president’s brother, would appear in the defense case. He was at the courthouse on Friday, but court adjourned early that day without him testifying.
There is also the question of whether Hunter Biden could take his stand, a decision Lowell told the court has not yet been made Friday.
It’s also unclear whether prosecutors will contradict witnesses once the defense rests.
Presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika told attorneys to return to the courthouse at 8:15 a.m. Monday morning to continue the proceedings.
This article originally appeared in Delaware News Journal: Naomi Biden testifies about father’s addiction, closes week of trial
