Federal trial | Hunter Biden’s daughter testifies

(Wilmington) Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi testified Friday at her father’s federal trial, telling jurors that she went to visit him while he was in a California rehab center, weeks before he he bought his revolver in 2018, and his condition seemed to improve.

“I hadn’t seen my father in a long time and I knew he was in a rehab center there. He contacted me,” she told jurors quietly, explaining that they met at a coffee shop, with his “sobriety coach.” After her testimony, she stopped to hug her father before leaving the courtroom.

The defense began calling witnesses shortly after federal prosecutors finished presenting their case.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, began by questioning another gun store employee who was present when the revolver was purchased, raising questions about what he saw as inconsistencies on the form.

He also questioned the store owner who authorized the sale by accepting Hunter Biden’s passport, even though it did not include an address, which is required.

Then he called Hunter Biden’s daughter. In October 2018, the month the gun was purchased, Naomi traveled from Washington to New York in her father’s truck to move her boyfriend’s belongings. Hunter Biden drove his father, Joe Biden’s, Cadillac to New York later that month to pick up his truck, leaving the Cadillac with Naomi. She told jurors she saw no drug paraphernalia or evidence of drug use.

“He looked very good. He looked hopeful,” she said.

But prosecutors showed Naomi text messages in which he didn’t respond to her for hours after she asked him to change cars. At 2 a.m., Naomi received a text from her father asking where the keys to her truck were and if her boyfriend could meet up and swap vehicles.

“Do you know what your father was doing at two in the morning and why he asked you for the car then? “, prosecutor Leo Wise asked Naomi.

Then, M^e Wise read a text message she sent at the time, in which she told her father: “I’m so sorry dad, I can’t take this.” »

The trial will resume on Monday.

Dependency issues raised

The week’s proceedings were largely devoted to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug problem through highly personal testimony, all in the aim of prosecutors to prove that the president’s son lied on a mandatory drug form. purchase of firearms when he declared that he was not using drugs illegally.

Jurors heard earlier in the week from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend who testified about his habitual crack use and their unsuccessful efforts to help him get sober. Images were shown of the president’s son shirtless and disheveled in a dirty room, holding crack pipes. A video of his crack dose being weighed on a scale was also shown.

Prosecutors say the evidence is needed to prove that Hunter Biden, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and therefore lied when he checked “no” on the form that asked him to s he was “an illegal user of or addicted to” the drug.

M^e Lowell argued that his client did not consider himself an “addict” when he purchased the gun and did not intend to deceive anyone.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is trying to walk the tightrope between being president and being a father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury’s verdict and rule out a pardon for his son. Earlier this week, he released a statement saying, “I’m the president, but I’m also a dad. Jill and I love our son and are very proud of the man he is today. »

Hunter Biden was charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false statement on the application that he was not a drug user, and illegally possessing a weapon for 11 days .

It is not yet known whether Hunter Biden will testify. But the jurors have already heard his voice. Prosecutors played in court lengthy audio clips from “Beautiful Things,” a book published in 202. In the memoir, he wrote about his lifelong addiction issues and his descent into hell after the death of his brother Beau in 2015. The book, written after he became sober, covers the time he had the gun, although no mention is made of it.

The reason law enforcement raised questions about Beau’s gun is that Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow, found it unloaded in Hunter Biden’s truck on October 23, 2018, panicked and ‘thrown in a trash can at Janssen market. Then, a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash. She testified about the episode Thursday.

She finally called the police. Officers recovered the weapon. The case was ultimately dismissed due to lack of cooperation from Hunter Biden, who was considered the victim.

If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, although first-time offenders don’t come close to that maximum.