Biden Hunter’s Daughter Naomi Gives Surprise Testimony in Gun Trial

Hunter Biden’s daughter told jurors her father seemed “great” and “hopeful” at the time he bought a gun in October 2018.

Naomi Biden, 30, gave surprise testimony in court during her father’s gun trial after being called to the witness stand by his defense team.

She said she never saw her father use drugs in 2018 and was living with a sober coach at the end of that year.

The US president’s son is accused of lying about his drug use on a form when purchasing the gun and ammunition at a gun store in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 12, 2018.

Mr Biden, 54, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, with his defense team saying he was recovering at the time and therefore did not lie on the documents.

This is the first trial of the son of a sitting US president. Mr. Biden faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors rested their case early Friday after calling their two remaining witnesses.

One of them, FBI forensic chemist Jason Brewer, tested that a “minimal” amount of cocaine was found in a leather pouch containing Mr Biden’s firearm.

But he said he couldn’t say for sure how the cocaine got there, or who it belonged to.

Mr. Biden’s defense team then began calling its own witnesses, starting with Jason Turner, who worked at the gun store where Mr. Biden purchased the gun, and Ron Palmieri, the store owner .

Their testimony included a combative exchange with Mr. Turner, who told Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, that he did not understand “what life is like in a gun store.”

Naomi Biden was then called to the stand — a surprise move that previous prosecutors were unaware of in advance.

Speaking mostly in simple “yes” or “no” answers, she said she first became aware of her father’s drug use after her uncle, Beau, died of cancer in 2015.

“After my uncle died, things got worse,” she says.

She recalled going to Los Angeles while he was living with a sober coach in late 2018, saying she “born him, I was so proud of him.”

“He seemed great, he seemed hopeful,” she said of another meeting she had with him in New York in late October 2018.

Under cross-examination by prosecutors, she said she did not see him use drugs at any time that year, but she admitted she wouldn’t know what he would look like under the influence.

During the same period in October 2018, she testified that she borrowed her father’s vehicle to help her move, saying it was in “good condition” and did not contain much. thing.

Prosecutors asked her about an Oct. 17 text message she received from her father, sent at 2 a.m. that day, asking where the keys to her truck were and if he could have them back.

“Right away?” She responded and later said, “I’m sorry Dad, I really can’t take this.” »

She testified that she didn’t know why her father needed the car at that time, but that it “still seemed fine.”