A tearful Hunter Biden watched his daughter Naomi testify on Friday that “things got bad” following the death of her uncle, Beau Biden.
The president’s son is accused of having purchased a firearm in October 2018, and lying on a federal form stating that he wasn’t actively struggling with substance abuse at the time.
The prosecution has attempted to show through texts, testimony, video, and photo evidence that Biden was using crack cocaine throughout 2018, including during the time when he purchased the gun.
On the fifth day of the trial, the prosecution rested its case after a week of focusing on the severity of Hunter Biden’s drug problem. The defense began by calling a former employee and owner of the gun shop where Hunter purchased the firearm on 12 October, 2018 before calling President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden. Closing arguments are expected on Monday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the court had heard extensive excerpts from Hunter Biden’s audiobook, Beautiful Things, in which he shared the breadth and depth of his drug use. The book, which Hunter began writing in 2019 and was published in 2021, covers four years of what he called “active addiction.”
Naomi, 30, the eldest of Hunter Biden’s three daughters, admitted that she was “nervous” when she took the stand on Friday at the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware.
She told the court that “after my uncle died, things got bad.”
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015, something President Biden believes was caused by the burn pits used in Iraq to burn waste created by warfare.
Naomi testified that she was in her early 20s when her parents got divorced.
Her mother, Kathleen Buhle has already testified, saying on Wednesday that Hunter Biden grew "angry" and "short-tempered" after smoking crack cocaine. He moved out in 2015 after she found a crackpipe and drug paraphernalia, and they divorced in 2017. While she found evidence of his drug use, Buhle said she never saw her ex-husband use drugs.
Naomi also said on Friday that she never found evidence of her father’s drug use and that he never used drugs in front of her.
She described a visit to Los Angeles to see her father with her boyfriend, now-husband, Peter Neal in 2018. Hunter was in rehab at the time and Naomi said that she hadn’t seen her father in a long time and that she met him alongside his sober coach.
“He seemed the clearest since my uncle died,” she said.
Naomi, dressed all in black, said she was “proud to be able to introduce him to my boyfriend.”
As Naomi spoke, several of the Biden family who were in the courtroom, including First Lady Jill Biden, the president’s sister Valerie Biden Owens, and Hunter himself, grew tearful. The First Lady had arrived back in the US only hours after attending the 80th anniversary of D-Day events in France on Thursday.
In the days after the October 2018 gun purchase, Naomi testified that she saw Hunter once during a three-day visit to New York. “He still seemed good and I was hopeful,” she said.
Naomi said she met her father after Hunter drove “pop’s” Cadillac to New York, in reference to a car owned by President Biden.
She said that her father appeared similar to how he had been during their afternoon in Los Angeles a short time before.
On Thursday, Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden, who subsequently had an on-off romantic relationship with Hunter, told the court that she had found the firearm in the center console of Hunter’s Ford F-150 on 23 October 2018.
She “panicked” and worrying that someone might be harmed, threw the gun into a trash can at a grocery store close to her Delaware home. It was later found and removed by an elderly man, Edward Banner, while he was searching for recyclables he told the court on Thursday.
On Friday, the prosecution called an FBI chemist, Jason Brewer, who tested residue on the leather pouch that held Hunter Biden’s gun. He told the court that the test results came back positive for cocaine but the amount was small.
Naomi told the court on Friday that she had set up a time to exchange cars with her father in October 2018. She testified that there was a lockbox in the center console of his F-150 at the time, but that it was locked and she and Neal were unable to open it. She added that there were no signs of drug use in the car and no paraphernalia.
On cross-examination, Naomi testified that she rarely saw her father for a period and when she did, it was for about an hour at a time.
In a dramatic moment, the prosecution brought forward about 25 pages of texts between Naomi and Hunter as they tried to prove to the jury that it had been difficult to deal with him around the time of 2018.
After several attempts to set up a time to exchange vehicles, Naomi texted Hunter: “I’m really sorry dad, I can’t take this. I miss you so much and I just want to hang out with you,” according to evidence shared by the prosecution.
“I’m really sorry I’ve been so unreachable, it’s not fair to you,” Hunter replied.
During his daughter’s testimony, a seemingly agitated Hunter Biden turned to his lawyers to speak animatedly for a brief moment.
Under more questions from the defense, Naomi said that her father had not been communicative when struggling with his substance disorder but that he was communicating in October 2018.
On her way out, she hugged and kissed her father and while she touched her eye, no tears were visible.
