WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden’s eldest daughter, Naomi, testified that she never saw her dad use drugs in October 2018, as defense attorneys seek to challenge the prosecutors’ case that the president’s son lied about his cocaine addiction when he purchased a firearm.
In late summer 2018, Naomi Biden and her then-fiancee visited Hunter Biden in Los Angeles while he was in a rehab facility. She described her dad as “the clearest he had ever been since my uncle [Beau Biden] died.”
“He seemed really great,” she told a federal jury Friday.
Naomi Biden also testified that in late October 2018, weeks after Hunter Biden brought the revolver, she used her dad’s truck to drive from New York to Washington. She said the car was in good shape and she didn’t see any drug paraphernalia or evidence of drug use in the truck.
That contradicts earlier testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend and sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, who said the truck had drug paraphernalia and was full of trash when he visited her around the same time period.
But on cross-examination, Naomi Biden testified about unusual text messages she got from her dad around Oct. 17, 2018, just five days after he purchased the weapon.
Shortly before midnight on Oct. 17, Hunter Biden texted to ask if she was awake. Naomi Biden said she responded at around 2 a.m. because she had fallen asleep earlier.
In the text messages, Hunter Biden asked her if her now-husband could bring the truck to 57th and 5th Ave. in Manhattan to swap cars.
“Right now?” she responded.
Prosecutor Leo Wise asked if she knew what her father was doing at two o’clock in the morning or why it was so important to swap cars at that moment.
“No,” Naomi Biden replied, adding that her dad still “seemed good” and she was “hopeful.”
“I’m really sorry dad I can’t take this,” she wrote in a later text to Hunter Biden in October 2018. She was trying to “hang out” with her dad in New York, but he had been unreachable. Hunter Biden later replied, apologizing for not being available.
Naomi Biden’s testimony is part of the defense attorney’s efforts to refute text messages, bank records and Hunter Biden’s memoir, all of which document what prosecutors allege was his use of crack cocaine in the weeks after purchasing a Colt revolver.
Hunter Biden is charged with three felonies stemming from his purchase of the gun on Oct. 12, 2018. He is accused of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not using illegal drugs and illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.