WILMINGTON, Del. — Hallie Biden, the sister-in-law and ex-girlfriend of Hunter Biden, dealt a major blow to his defense on Thursday by saying she saw evidence he was using crack cocaine days after he bought a gun in October 2018.

She also shook up the trial when she described her descent into crack addiction, telling the court how Hunter Biden introduced her to the drug earlier in 2018. Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother Beau, said she is now clean but is “embarrassed and ashamed” of that time in her life.

As the star witness for prosecutors, Hallie Biden confirmed a series of text messages she exchanged with Hunter Biden days after he purchased a Colt Cobra .38 on Oct. 12, 2018. In the texts, Hunter Biden said he was “buying,” which Hallie Biden said meant he was purchasing crack.

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In other texts, Hunter Biden said he “was waiting for a dealer named Mookie” and “sleeping on a car smoking crack.” The texts were sent within 48 hours of his purchase of the revolver.

The text messages coupled with Hallie Biden’s testimony are the strongest evidence prosecutors have presented that Hunter Biden was an active drug user when he purchased the gun. Hunter Biden is charged with three federal felonies for lying about his drug use when he bought the gun and illegally possessing the gun for 11 days.

Hallie Biden also testified that on the morning of Oct. 23, 2018 — the day she found the gun and threw it away — Hunter arrived at her home and looked as if had been using drugs. He looked “tired, exhausted,” she told the court.

She discovered remnants of crack cocaine with drug paraphernalia while cleaning out his car.

Hunter Biden’s legal team has argued that he was in recovery at the time of the purchase, meaning he didn’t lie on the form because he was not an active drug user.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell suggested that Hunter Biden was lying in his texts about smoking crack. He said Hunter Biden would often lie to her about his whereabouts if he was angry with her or didn’t want to see her. Mr. Lowell hammered this point to cast doubt on claims his client was addicted to drugs at the time of the gun purchase.

On cross-examination, Hallie Biden acknowledged that she did not see Hunter Biden using drugs at that time. She also struggled to recall the sequence of events in the days she discarded the gun.

Hallie Biden recalled the chaotic events of Oct. 23, 2018, when she found the handgun in Hunter Biden’s car and threw it away in the trash can outside Janssen’s Market, a nearby grocery store.

She described in detail how Hunter Biden freaked out when he learned that the gun had been thrown into a trash can.

“The f——— FBI. It’s hard to believe you’re that stupid,” Hunter Biden texted her upon learning she had thrown away the gun.

She testified that she “panicked” when she found the gun and ammo in the console of Hunter’s car and “wanted to get rid of it,” fearing Hunter Biden or her children would discover it and hurt themselves.

Hallie Biden said she couldn’t remember what she did after throwing away the bag with the gun inside.

“I was just so flustered from the whole thing,” she testified. “I realize it was a stupid idea now, but I was just panicking.”

She said Hunter Biden told her to look for the gun, but when she returned to the grocery store, it was not in the trash can. When that happened, he told her to go back and file a police report.

Jurors also heard testimony from two police officers who told of the hunt for the gun and how it was ultimately recovered along with ammunition, a speed loader and a brown leather pouch — all of which belonged to Hunter Biden — in the house of a man who discovered the items in a trash bin at Janssen’s Market. Prosecutors say the FBI found a white powder in the pouch that tested positive for cocaine.

The man who discovered the gun, Edward Banner, also testified. When asked whether anyone in his house used cocaine, he responded, “No.”