'He seemed hopeful': Hunter Biden's daughter testifies at his gun trial

Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi had testified in his federal gun trial about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab centre, telling jurors that he seemed to be improving in the weeks before he bought the revolver in 2018.

"I hadn't seen my dad in a long time, and I knew he was in a rehab facility there. He reached out," she told jurors softly on Friday, explaining that they met at a coffee shop, along with his "sober coach."

As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom. The defence began calling witnesses shortly after federal prosecutors wrapped up their case.

Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, started by calling another gun store clerk who was there when the gun was purchased, raising questions about what he saw as inconsistencies on the form.

He also questioned the owner of the shop, who allowed the sale to go through using Hunter's passport, though it did not include an address as required.

Then he called Hunter's daughter. In October 2018, the month Hunter Biden bought the gun, Naomi travelled from Washington to New York in her father's truck to move her boyfriend's belongings.

Hunter drove Joe Biden's Cadillac to New York later that month to retrieve his truck, leaving the Cadillac with Naomi.

She told jurors she didn't see any drug paraphernalia or evidence of drug use.

"He seemed great. He seemed hopeful," she said.

But prosecutors showed Naomi texts where he didn't respond to her for hours after she messaged him about switching cars. At 2 am, Hunter texted Naomi, asking where the keys to his truck were and whether her boyfriend could meet and swap vehicles.

"Right now?" she responded.

"Do you know what your father was doing at two o'clock in the morning and why he was asking you for the car then?" prosecutor Leo Wise asked.

"No," she said.

Wise read out to her a text message from the time, to which she responded: "I'm really sorry, Dad. I can't take this."

Highlighting addiction struggles

The week's proceedings have been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden's drug problem through highly personal testimony, all in an effort by prosecutors to prove that the president's son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form when he said he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

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 failed efforts to help him get clean.

They saw images of the president's son bare-chested and dishevelled in a filthy room and half-naked, holding cracked pipes. And they watched a video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.

Prosecutors say the evidence is necessary to prove that Hunter, 54, was in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and, therefore, lied when he checked "no" on the form that asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" drugs.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden worked to walk the line between president and father, telling ABC in an interview that he would accept the jury's verdict and rule out a pardon for his son.

Hunter Biden has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.

He has pleaded not guilty. He had hoped to resolve the gun case and another separate tax case in California with a plea deal last year, the result of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.