Jill Biden watches as granddaughter Naomi Biden is ambushed on witness stand with her own text message to Hunter saying: 'I'm really sorry dad I can't take this'

Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi was ambushed with devastating text messages that blew a hole in the her father's defense in the federal gun trial.

First Lady Jill Biden watched from the gallery as her granddaughter testified about interactions with her father at rehab and when he was in the depths of a crack cocaine addiction.

It came on another dramatic day in the trial, where the prosecution wrapped its case after less than a week and Naomi was questioned about life with her father. 

At first, questioned by Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, she painted a rosy picture of Hunter’s sobriety in the lead-up to his October 2018 gun purchase over which he is charged.

Naomi said she visited Hunter with her then-boyfriend Peter in Los Angeles in August 2018, where Hunter had been having a short rehab stint.

‘He seemed like the clearest I’d seen him since my uncle died,’ she said, referring to Beau Biden who died from brain cancer on May 30, 2015.

‘He seemed really great,’ Naomi added. ‘I told him that I was so proud of him and so proud to be able to introduce Peter to him.’

Naomi Biden departs from federal court in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday, June 7, 2024 after giving evidence in the trial of her father Hunter Biden

Naomi Biden (C), daughter of Hunter Biden, leaves the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 07, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware

Hunter has been charged with lying on a federal form when he bought a gun in Wilmington, Delaware on October 12, 2018 and indicated he was not a drug user.

Naomi was giving evidence in his defense on the fifth day of Hunter's trial as First Lady Jill Biden looked on from the public benches.

Jill Biden had traveled 3,500 miles to be there after being in France on Thursday for D-Day commemorations, where she and President Joe Biden met French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron. 

In court, Naomi described how she borrowed her dad’s Ford truck, and that on the week of October 15 Hunter drove Joe Biden’s Cadillac up to New York to swap with her.

She said when she saw him then, just a few days after his gun purchase, ‘he seemed great’ and ‘he seemed hopeful’.

But then prosecutor Leo Wise started his cross-examination – and handed Naomi, Lowell and the judge 20 pages of text messages between her and Hunter from the time.

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, at the federal court for his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden, arrive to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 07, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware

The texts showed that Hunter failed to show up for their arranged car swap, and when she texted him in the afternoon of October 17 he failed to respond until almost midnight, when he wrote: ‘are you up?’

Hunter then woke Naomi up by texting her at 2am, asking: ‘where the keys to the truck and can Peter bring to 57th and 5th?’

Visibly concerned, Naomi faltered on the stand, mumbled into the microphone causing Wise to ask her to repeat herself, and said that ‘I don’t remember any of this.’

The texts showed Naomi tried unsuccessfully again to exchange the cars with her father the next day, and that he told her he wouldn’t be seeing her in New York.

‘So no see you?!’ Naomi wrote, followed by an unhappy face. ‘I’m really sorry dad I can’t take this. I miss you so much. I just wanna hang out with you.’

Finally, Hunter replied at 10.30pm on October 18: ‘I’m sorry I’ve been so unreachable. It’s not fair to you.’

A picture of the gun submitted in evidence in the trial

First lady Jill Biden and her senior advisor Anthony Bernal arrive at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 07, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware

The apparent unreliability of her father during those crucial day struck to the heart of the defense’s case, that Hunter was reliable when he was sober, and that he was allegedly reliable around mid-October 2018 when he bought the gun claiming he wasn’t a drug abuser.

The final blow came in a devastating series of questions by Wise.

‘Did he tell you he was meeting with someone called Frankie?’ he asked – reminding the jury of previous evidence about one of Hunter’s dealers by that name. ‘No,’ Naomi said.

‘Did he tell you he had given Frankie an access code to his Wells Fargo account?’ Wise said. ‘I don’t remember,’ said Naomi.

Then she admitted that it wasn’t until October 19 that she was finally able to recover the car.

Hallie Biden, daughter in-law of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building after testifying in the trial of Hunter Biden on June 06, 2024

Media gather outside the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building United States Courthouse, Friday, June 7, 2024

Naomi was dressed all in black, with a black jacket over dark, baggy clothes.

There has been speculation that she is pregnant with her now-husband Peter’s child.

Naomi looked on the verge of tears, wiping one eye as she walked out after hugging her father.

During Lowell’s initial questioning, he seemed to score a point by having Naomi describe the clean state of Hunter’s Ford Raptor truck when she drove it up to New York the week of October 15 2018.

Hallie Biden had testified earlier in the week that the car had been strewn with clothes, drug detritus and paraphernalia, and that the lock box of the center console was broken and ajar two inches with Hunter’s revolver and bullets inside.

The gun store where Hunter Biden bought a revolver

A picture submitted as evidence in the trial

But Naomi said that the console was closed and locked – because she and Peter tried to get into it.

However, Wise in his cross-examination was able to make clear to the jury that the alleged messing up of the car and drugs appearing in there must have happened when it was in Hunter’s possession, after he received it on October 19 and before Hallie searched it on October 23.

It suggested that Hunter was using drugs in that period, while he still owned his Colt Cobra .38 Special he bought on October 12.

An image submitted as evidence

More evidence submitted by the prosecution

When Wise handed Lowell the 20 pages of bombshell text messages, he exclaimed: ‘This is the first time we’re seeing these.’

The judge waved away his concerns, telling him ‘it’s a cross [examination]’, where prosecutors are allowed to surprise with such evidence.

In fact, Lowell had admitted in court on Thursday that his team had access to the entirety of Hunter’s abandoned laptop from which the texts were extracted – meaning he should have been able to anticipate such an ambush.

After Naomi and the jury left for the lunch recess, the defense team huddled together and had a whispered conversation.