Jurors in the federal gun trial of Hunter Biden were dismissed Friday afternoon, after prosecutors rested their case and lawyers for the son of President
Joe Biden began laying out their defense.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys called three witnesses to the stand, including his eldest daughter Naomi Biden, who testified that she visited her father while he was in rehab in Los Angeles in the summer of 2018.
Naomi Biden said that he seemed “hopeful” in October 2018, the month when prosecutors say he lied about his crack cocaine addiction to purchase a revolver, NBC News reported.
On cross-examination, Naomi Biden told prosecutor Leo Wise that she did not see any drug paraphernalia in her father’s truck when she borrowed it in October 2018.
As Naomi Biden testified, her father wiped tears from his eyes.
The 54-year-old Hunter Biden, the president’s sole surviving son, is charged with three counts related to his purchase and possession of a Colt Cobra revolver while using illicit drugs.
Prosecutors said the evidence is “overwhelming” that Hunter Biden was addicted to crack at the time he bought the gun, and that he lied about it on a form used to conduct a federal background check related to the purchase. Defense attorneys have sought to raise doubts about whether Hunter Biden was on drugs at that time.
The trial in U.S. District Court in Delaware is expected to wrap up next week. It is unclear if Hunter Biden’s team plans to call their client to testify in his own defense. One of his lawyers said they would make a decision over the weekend on their “last witness.”
abcnews.go.com
