Hunter Biden’s eldest daughter took the stand on Friday as a witness for the defense in her father’s federal trial, detailing her dad’s struggle with addiction and how “hopeful” he was around the time he allegedly illegally bought a gun.
“Sorry, I’m nervous,” Naomi Biden, 30, told jurors as she began testifying in a Delaware courtroom.
Hunter, who was sitting several feet away at the defense table, wiped away tears as his eldest daughter spoke. Naomi—one of three daughters Biden shares with his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who testified earlier this week—described first learning about her father’s struggle with addiction and his stints in rehab. She detailed seeing her father in 2018 while he was in an L.A. rehab center.
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“I knew that he was struggling with addiction,” she said, noting how “things got bad” after her uncle and Hunter’s brother, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer.
Around October 2018, when prosecutors allege Biden lied on a federal form to buy a gun by saying he wasn’t a drug addict, Naomi said her father was hopeful about getting better. Still, according to texts shown in court, the relationship between Biden and his daughter was strained.
“I’m really sorry dad I can’t take this,” Naomi texted her dad around that time while he was on a trip to New York, before adding that she wanted to “hang out with you.”
Hours later, Biden responded, apologizing for being unreachable.
Naomi Biden and her husband Peter Neal pictured at an event in April.
Nathan Howard/ReutersDuring cross-examination, prosecutor Leo Wise tried to establish a timeline for Biden’s drug use by asking Naomi if she ever saw her father using drugs.
“No, I never saw him use,” she said, adding that she would not be able to recognize whether he was.
When court broke for lunch, Naomi quickly hugged her father as she walked past the defense table to exit the room with her husband. NBC noted that, unlike other Biden family reunions throughout the trial, there were no big hugs or laughter around Naomi in the hallway. Instead, the Biden family and supporters reportedly appeared silent and serious.
Naomi was the second defense witness to take the stand on Friday after prosecutors rested their case earlier in the day, CNN reported. President Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, was also in the courthouse on Friday and was expected to testify but the defense decided not to call him up and jurors were sent home early.
Defense attorneys said Friday afternoon that they would make a decision on their “last witness” over the weekend, including whether Hunter Biden will testify.
James Biden arriving at the courthouse on Friday.
Kevin Dietsch/GettyBiden has pleaded not guilty to three counts of owning a firearm while using narcotics. His defense attorneys insist that the president’s son may not have knowingly lied on his form because, at the time, he was in a “deep state of denial” about his drug use.
Earlier on Friday, a forensic chemist testified that white powder found in a brown leather pouch that contained the gun tested positive for drugs.
“Cocaine was identified within the residual white powder that I sampled,” chemist James Brewer told jurors. He added that the “minimal amount of white power” was found in and on the pouch, and that the tests were done last year.
“You can’t date when the residue got there, or who put it there?” defense lawyer David Kolansky asked during cross-examination.
“I cannot,” Brewer said, also confirming he did not initially analyze the pouch and did not test for fingerprints.
On Thursday, Biden’s sister-in-law and former paramour testified that she put the gun inside his leather pouch after finding it in his truck. Hallie Biden testified that she then put the pouch in a shopping bag and threw it away at a grocery store near her house.
“I didn’t want him to hurt himself or my kids to find it and hurt themselves. I was afraid to, kind of, touch it,” Hallie said. “I was just so flustered from the whole thing. I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was just panicking.”
When Biden found out she threw away the gun, he initially told her to look for it before suggesting she file a police report since the firearm was under his name. She testified that she eventually called the police because she could not find it.
Millard Greer, a police officer who was tasked with finding the gun, testified that security footage showed an old man near the trash can where Hallie had discarded the weapon. Witnesses nearby later told him that the man had a habit of rummaging through garbage for recyclables and Greer said he eventually found the man poking around a strip mall days later.
The man, Edward Banner, confirmed that he found a “thirty-eight special” in the trash and took it home. On the stand, Banner explained to jurors he had a hobby of finding recyclables and driving them to New York for profit.
Greer said he went to Banner’s house with him but there was some difficulty getting inside, thanks to a lost set of keys and a sleeping wife. When they finally got in, Banner ran upstairs to give Greer a box of rolled-up socks.
“‘I think this is what you’re looking for,’” Greer said Banner explained. “And he pulls out a sock that has a gun in it.”
