First son Hunter Biden could be seen wiping away tears Friday as his eldest daughter Naomi testified in his defense during his federal gun trial — the defendant’s first real display of emotion during proceedings.
Naomi — one of Hunter’s three daughters with ex-wife Kathleen Buhle — recounted to jurors that she had visited her dad in Los Angeles while he was at The View rehab center in August 2018 and introduced him to her then-boyfriend, Peter Neal.
“I visited him with my boyfriend, who is now my husband,” Naomi said. “I hadn’t seen my dad in a really long time and I know he was in a rehab facility there.”
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“We met him at a coffee shop, had lunch with him and met his sober coach,” she said.
Naomi needed to be reminded the name of the rehab facility, located in Tinseltown’s tony Brentwood section.
“Yeah, it was, sorry. I’m nervous,” she explained.
“He seemed like the clearest I had seen him since my uncle [Beau Biden] died [in May 2015],” Naomi recalled.
“He seemed really great. I told him I was so proud of him and so proud to be able to introduce Peter to him,” Naomi said, as Hunter’s eyes welled up.
Naomi — the third defense witness of Friday’s proceedings — went on to recount texting her dad on Oct. 17, 18, and 19, days after Hunter bought the .38-caliber revolver at the center of the federal case against him.
The first granddaughter said she had been trying to meet up with Hunter in Manhattan to swap cars after borrowing his pickup to help Neal move into her apartment.
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“He was coming to New York to see me,” Naomi testified. “And he needed the truck back. He drove my pop’s Cadillac. He seemed great. He seemed hopeful.”
Naomi said she thought her dad was in a similar place to when she saw him in rehab, but a series of texts between the two read aloud by prosecutor Leo Wise indicated erratic behavior on Hunter’s part.
First, Naomi received messages from her dad at 11:40 p.m. on Oct. 17 saying: “Are you up? Please call me.”
Hunter then sent Naomi another message at 2 a.m. on Oct. 18 saying: “Where are the keys for the truck and can Peter bring the keys to 57th and 5th and I’ll trade cars with him?”
“Do you know what your father was doing at 2 a.m. and why he was asking for the car then?” asked Wise during cross-examination.
“No,” Naomi answered.
Wise then read out Naomi’s response to her dad: “‘Right now?’”
The Bidens ultimately decided to meet the afternoon of the 18th.