Hunter Biden attorneys consider calling him to testify on criminal charges next week

Prosecutor Leo Wise asked Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's daughter, about the condition of Hunter’s truck when she borrowed it roughly a week after Hunter purchased the gun.

Naomi said she did not see anything like “remnants” of cocaine in the truck, or any other drug paraphernalia.

This detail is key because she gives the truck back to Hunter on Oct.19. Four days later, on Oct. 23, Hallie Biden finds the gun in the truck. She also finds what she called “remnants” of crack cocaine and some paraphernalia, such as a crack pipe, along with the gun.

She called it a “dusting” of powder. This is key because at this point Hunter Biden had the truck.

The government is trying to show that he was using crack between Oct. 19 and Oct. 23., only one week after he bought the gun and filled out the form at the center of the whole case, where he checked a box that said he was not at the time a user “or addicted to” any controlled substances.

Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this update.

The fifth day of Hunter Biden's trial for federal gun charges has concluded.

Court adjourned for the day around 1:50 p.m. ET. Hunter Biden departed at 2:03 p.m. ET.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said he will decide over the weekend whether he will call Hunter to the stand. That decision will come over the weekend and Lowell, who departed from court shortlt after 2 p.m. ET, said he would notify the office of Special Counsel David Weiss to tell them the decision.

If the defense does call Hunter to the stand, the prosecution indicated they may put on a rebuttal witness.

James Biden, the president's brother, was seen departing the courthouse at 1:40 p.m. ET.

James Biden was one of a handful of individuals expected to be called to the stand by the defense to testify.

Court resumes at 8:15 a.m. ET on Monday.

Fox News' Emma Colton and David Spunt contributed to this update.

Former assistant District Attorney Phil Holloway joined Harris Faulkner on the Faulkner Focus on the Fox News Channel on Friday to discuss the latest developments in the federal gun crime trial of Hunter Biden, and how his defense team is trying to "evoke sympathy" from the jury.

"I think if the jury is paying attention to the presentation that the prosecutors are putting on, the presentation that's occurring in the front of the courtroom, these witnesses did a lot of damage to Hunter Biden," said Holloway.

"[I]t's obvious that at the relevant time when he bought that gun, he was both addicted to drugs and he was also an unlawful user of drugs, particularly I think crack cocaine being the big one," he continued.

"But here's the thing, Harris. There's another presentation that's taking place in that courtroom, and it's for the benefit of the jury. The presence of the First Lady, the presence of the rest of the Biden family, all that stuff is there for the jury to see. The defense has orchestrated it for the benefit of the jury," he said.

"They're trying to evoke sympathy. This is in the Biden's backyard. There's bound to be people on that jury who have great affection for at least some of the Bidens," he added.

"So this is an effort to get jury nullification which is of course when the jury says okay, maybe he's he's guilty, the evidence is there, but we're gonna give him a pass anyway, that's they have the power to do it. The lawyers cannot directly ask for it, but they're doing it in the way that you see playing out in the courtroom," he said.

Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's daughter, concluded her emotional testimony in her father's ongoing gun trial shortly before the court broke for lunch on Friday.

When Naomi took the stand, Hunter dabbed his eyes with a tissue. He paid close attention to Naomi. She seemed uncomfortable on the stand.

Under cross-examination, Naomi was asked by prosecutor Leo Wise if she knew her father had been doing drugs.

"Yes, I knew that he was struggling with addiction," she said. "After my uncle died things got bad…"

Asked whether she had witnessed her father using drugs, Naomi said, "No, I never saw him use."

When Naomi left the room she was in tears and hugged her dad. 

Jill Biden and the president's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, looked upset when they walked out of the courtroom with Hunter.

The court broke for lunch around 12:45 p.m.

Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this update.

Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's eldest daughter, testified that her father was in rehab and seemed to be doing better in the summer of 2018.

She testified as a defense witness that she visited him in Los Angeles and that he seemed the clearest "since my uncle (Beau Biden) died."

Naomi said she told Hunter that she was "proud of him."

Defense attorneys have argued that prosecutors have not sufficiently proven that Hunter Biden was actively using drugs around the time he purchased a gun in October 2018. Biden is charged with lying on a federal form to purchase the firearm that he was not an active drug user or addicted to narcotics.

Naomi Biden also testified that in mid-October 2018 -- after the gun purchase -- she drove Hunter's truck from D.C. to New York, and didn't find any drugs in the car.

She told the court at the start of her testimony that she was "nervous."

Naomi Biden is the third witness called by defense attorney Abbe Lowell. The prosecution rested it's case Friday morning.

One of the prosecution's star witnesses was Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's widow, who testified that she believed Hunter Biden was likely on drugs in mid-October 2018.

Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

Ronald Palimere, the owner of StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, took the stand briefly in court on Friday and was questioned by the defense on whether he rushed the sale of the firearm to Hunter Biden.

Palimere said he never talked or met with Biden in the show room. He also didn't remember anything about the background check.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked him if he was trying to rush the sale in anyway.

“I was trying not to hold him up,” Palimere responded.

The witness only took questions from the defense. The prosecution decided not to follow-up with questions.

The defense has called Naomi Biden, the eldest daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle, to the stand.

Naomi's mother testified earlier this week in the trial.

Buhle said during Wednesday's testimony she discovered Hunter was using drugs when they were married and that she found a crack pipe on an ashtray on the side porch of their D.C. home on July 3, 2015.

Buhle also said when Hunter was using drugs he was “not himself” and “angry, short tempered, and acting in ways he didn’t when he was sober.” She said he was “smoking crack the day after our anniversary.”

James Biden, the president's brother, and Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's adult daughter, have arrived at court.

Fox News expects the defense to call Naomi, 30, and James Biden, 75, as witnesses in the trial.

Both James and Naomi arrived at court shortly after 11 a.m., minutes apart from one another.

Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this update

Defense called for the first witness Friday morning -- Jason Turner, the StarQuest Shooters employee who did the background check on Hunter Biden.

Prosecutors questioned DEA Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Romig -- considered an expert witness on drug trafficking -- on various terms commonly used to refer to drug, and how drugs like crack cocaine get into the United States.

The prosecution brought up text messages between Hunter Biden and various dealers, and family members throughout 2018-19, including messages with Hallie Biden.

They asked Romig to identify what might be meant by texts Hunter sent.

For example, when Hunter Biden asked for "baby powder" or "soft powder," Romig said that was code for powder cocaine.

Romig described what a "chore boy" is to the jury -- a scouring pad and filter for a crack pipe that is very common.

He also identified various pictures of Hunter using a crack pipe, or something similar, and videos of scales and drugs he texted.

In cross-examination, Abbe Lowell walks through each text message that the prosecution just had Romig read and identify different words that appeared to be related to drugs.

Lowell went through text messages from October 2018, asking about the message where Hunter says he was "sleeping on a car smoking crack."

Lowell asked Romig if he knows whether Hunter was actually "on a car smoking crack" at the time the message was sent, to which Romig said "no."

Lowell asked Romig if any of the text messages from August to October 2018 make references to "baby powder," "soft stuff," "party favor," "grams," "fentan," "choreboy" or have photos of Romig testified that the text messages during 2018 - early 2019 are consistent with someone using drugs. 

Romig testified that Hunter's cash withdrawals and the content of the text messages during this time period indicate that some of the cash was likely being used to buy drugs. 

Lowell questioned Romig again and asked if the cash could have been used to buy really anything, to which Romig said, yes. 

Fox News' James Levinson and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

The prosecution on Friday called Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Romig to the witness stand. 

Special Counsel David Weiss and his team expect Romig to offer opinions, based on his training and experience, regarding the coded messages sent by Hunter Biden.

Dr. Jason Brewer, who is considered an expert witness in the field of forensic chemistry, testified Friday that the testing he conducted on the brown leather patch used by Hunter Biden to store the gun contained cocaine residue.

The prosecution presented government exhibit 4 to Brewer on the stand, and showed pictures of that exhibit, which is the brown pouch where the gun was stored.

Inside the flaps, and on the bag, a small amount of white powder was seen. Samples of it were taken by Brewer.

Based on the testing conducted by Brewer, his conclusion was that residuals of cocaine were identified in the sample. He could not specify whether it was crack specifically because there was such a small sample.

Brewer could only tell if there were drugs present. He cannot speak to anything about who put them there and when the cocaine was put there.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Brewer was asked if his testing indicated when the cocaine residue got on the leather pouch and who put it there. Brewer said it did not.

The defense also asked Brewer if he tested the pouch for fingerprints. He said he didn't and that the testing was just a chemistry examination of the residue.

Fox News' James Levinson and Aubrie Spady contributed to this update

The jury was seated for the fifth day of Hunter Biden's gun crime trial on Friday.

Shortly after, Dr. Jason Brewer, a forensic chemist, was called by the prosecution to the witness stand.

Brewer is expected to be asked about his analysis of the brown leather pouch that allegedly belonged to Biden and his opinion that the residue is cocaine based on his testing and evidence, prosecutors said ahead of his testimony.

House Republicans are sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending Hunter Biden and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about "key aspects" of the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., who have been leading the inquiry, sent the criminal referrals to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel David Weiss on Wednesday, saying the alleged false statements "implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry." 

House Republicans allege Hunter Biden "falsely distanced himself from a corporate entity — Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC — and its bank account (Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account) that was the recipient of millions of dollars from foreign individuals and foreign entities who met with then-Vice President Biden before and after transmitting money to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account that then transferred funds to Hunter Biden." 

"Hunter Biden made additional false statements as to whether he held positions at Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC. After deposing Hunter Biden, the Committees obtained documents showing Hunter Biden represented that he was the corporate secretary," they wrote. "Additionally, Hunter Biden during his testimony relayed an entirely fictitious account about threatening text messages he sent to his Chinese business partner while invoking his father’s presence with him as he wrote the messages. Hunter Biden told the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee he had transmitted this threat to an unrelated individual with the same surname. However, documents released by the Committee on Ways and Means demonstrate conclusively that Hunter Biden made this threat to the intended individual, and bank records prove Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners wired millions of dollars to him after his threat." 

They added: "A portion of the proceeds has been traced to Joe Biden’s bank account."

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley called out media outlets and reporters who spread false claims about Hunter Biden's laptop and have now reversed since it was introduced as evidence in Biden's gun crime trial.

In a Fox News Digital op-ed, Turley identified ABC, NBC, CBS and the Washington Post, among others, as news organizations that had attempted to discredit the laptop's authenticity. 

"Yet, what followed the testimony of FBI agent Erika Jensen was absolute crickets," Turley wrote. "There was no effort to track down the signatories of the now-debunked letter from former intelligence officials just before the election. In the letter, figures such as Leon Panetta, former CIA director in the Obama administration, claimed that the letter had all the markings of a Russian disinformation effort by intelligence services." 

"There was no attempt by the media to confront associates of the Biden campaign (including now Secretary of State Antony Blinken) who pushed a long effort to get former intelligence officials to sign a letter," he continued. 

"There was no attempt to question President Joe Biden, who made this false claim in the presidential election to deflect any questions about the evidence of corrupt influence peddling on the laptop."