joining me here in the cnn newsroom. blitzer in washington. all of griffey back later tonight's six p.m. eastern in the situation room tomorrow up and back, 11:00 a.m. in the cnn newsroom are special coverage of this historic verdict continues on inside politics with manu raju that's coming up next cnn breaking news welcome inside politics you in today for dana, we are continuing to cnn special covered the hunter biden verdict. juries found him guilty on all three federal charges, gun charges, he was facing. the jurors deliberate less than three hours. cnn's paula reid is outside the courthouse. paula, any reaction yet from either legal team motto, there is no reaction yet from either legal team. >> we do expect a written statement from hunter biden's camp any moment now and then later today, the special counsel, david weiss, we'll give a rare statement here outside the courthouse. now, in hunter biden's legal team, there was hope even as early as this morning, that there would be one juror who would perhaps see this case the story of addiction or a politically motivated prosecution, and that they would at least get one juror and possibly get hung jury here. that was a whole that they had, but here, hunter biden has of course, been convicted on all counts. this jury of six men and six women. it is a majority black jury. they found so the prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that hunter biden was knowingly either using or addicted to drugs when he filled out that form when he purchased this gun and when he owned it. now the most difficult thing for prosecutors was to prove that hunter biden, again knowingly lied, that he was aware that he was either using or addicted to drugs. and what made so difficult motto is there was no direct evidence that he was using drugs during the time he owned this gun in october 2018, prosecutors presented quite a bit of evidence throughout the year of 2018, people who directly witnessed him doing drugs during that time, photographic evidence, which suggests that he was doing drugs, but they didn't have that during the specific period where he owned this god. so instead they relied on text messages for example, that hunter biden sent to his sister-in-law and onetime girlfriend, hallie biden. we have here to be suggesting he was either on drugs or doing drugs. now, defense attorneys and sources close to hunter has suggested that he was just making that up. we just didn't want to see hallie biden, but in the end, the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that hunter biden knew that he was either using or addicted to drugs when he filled out that form to purchase the gun, defense attorneys even tried to shift some of the blame onto the salesman who sold them the gun, getting him to admit that he was a quote whale hunter or someone who tried to upsell customers. that is something that contradicted that witnesses grand jury testimony. now, look on it and the hunter biden team, they have a lot to work with on appeal. this is a unique case and they've certainly been prepared for that possibility and going forward, we certainly expect they will appeal his conviction i follow rate if there are any developments, we'll check back in with you. thanks for that report outside the courthouse. i do want to go to cnn's arlette sign. she's at the white house. arlette, we just have heard from the president, what did he say? >> yeah, president biden is weighing in for the first time since his only living his son, hunter, and also importantly said that he would accept the outcome of this verdict. i want to read you the president's statement. he said, quote, as i said last week, i am the president, but i am also a dad, jill and i love our son and we are so proud of the man and he is today so many families who have had loved ones battle addiction, understand the feeling of pride seem someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient and recovery. the president said, as i also said last week, i will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as hunter considers an appeal jill and i will always be there for hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. nothing will ever change that now in an interview last week, president biden was specifically asked whether he would accept the verdict in this trial. he said yes, and he also ruled out the possibility of pardoning his son, hunter now, throughout this process, the biden family has gone to great lengths to keep their son close and show their support for him. first lady jill biden, has been on hand for most days of this trial. in fact, just last week, she had crisscrossed the globe traveling from wilmington to france and back again to be he on hand for that trial, she was in wilmington, delaware when this verdict came down, but she arrived at the court just a few minutes after it had been read. she was seen departing the court with her son, hunter biden, hand in hand in another physical sign of support port for hunter biden amid this trial. now it all comes and really caps off several years of a tumultuous period for the biden family during this trial, they heard the re airing of many of the sorted details of this troubled period in hunter's life when he suffered from addiction, there were clips of hunter hunter biden reading his memoir where he talked about his struggles with addiction, hunter biden's daughter, the president's granddaughter, was on the witness stand, uh, talking about her father, her interactions with him during eight not troubled period in his life and so really this highlights just yet another painful moment of for the biden family. now president biden is here in washington, dc today at the white house, a bit later this afternoon, there's potentially a awkward political moment as his son has now been convicted on these felony gun charges, president biden at 1:30 is actually slated to speak at a gun violence prevention conference for every town for gun safety. the president in that event, as opposed to talk about some of the policies has administration has put in place to try to prevent a gun violence. but we will see whether we get any other further comment from president biden or potentially from the white house as well. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre will be briefing the press a bit later this afternoon. around 230. but simply today, the president is saying that he is approaching this from the perspective of a father offering his love and support to his son, hunter, in the wake of this conviction of those three felony gun charges? >> alright. i'll assign is outside the white house for the presence that he will quote, accept the outcome and code continued to respect that judicial process as hundred biden considers an appeal. thanks for that. >> and for more, let's bring in cnn legal analyst joey jackson tim parlatore. >> tim is a former attorney for donald trump. joey first you what do you think was the definitive argument or piece of evidence that convinced the jury here yeah, mano. >> good to be with you. i think it was pretty straightforward case and i think the jury just did not buy that there was not the addiction at the time of the actual purchase of the weapon and i think it was pretty compelling in that regard. remember the three charges, number one, do you lie to a federally licensed dealer? number two did you give false indications on the form and number three, where you went to illegal possession of it in light of the fact that you were addicted. and so i would think as we see there, the form itself, the verdict i would think that this would be a case, if ever, that perhaps would be subject monitor what we call jury nullification. that is, it's very sympathetic. we knew that there people on that jury who had are certainly worked supposed and knew people who had addictions. the defense argued a couple of things. number one, was he that is hunter biden at the time deceiving himself. did he act with the mental state required and knowingly that he believed he was over this hurdle in life. >> the jury rejecting that, arguing of course, that at the time he purchased the weapon, the fence would argue he was an addicted. >> there's no direct evidence as to his use at that time, but i think at the end of the day, the jury perhaps value that, but said the law is the law and rendered a determination as to guilt with respect to him being an addict at the time of the purchase? >> and tim, what grounds as hunter biden and his team have for an appeal and how strong do you think their case would be on appeal i think that there's a lot of different grounds for appeal. >> yeah, certainly the denial of bringing in an expert witnesses to his mental state when he did this, but also from the larger constitutional standpoint, there is already a fifth circuit case that we've been talking about where it already has said being an addict is not something under the new supreme court's standard of bruin that should make it so that you can purchase a firearm. and i think that that is an issue that because you have that decision in the fifth circuit, of course, is being in a different circuit, could go all the way. the supreme court to invalidate this specific statute certainly we have prohibitions on whether you're a convicted felon, whether you're in the country illegally whether you're a user of illegal drugs, that's something that i think is gonna be very interesting because when you do take that up on appeal, you're going to have hunter biden with abacuses from the nra. amicus is from veterans groups at amicus is from the cannabis industry there's a lot of veterans that i know that have to make a choice of. do they want to get a medical marijuana card or do they want to keep their firearms hunter biden has the opportunity potentially to take this as supreme court and say you can do both. so it is actually a very fascinating issues so yeah, i'd bedfellows indeed a joy. what what comes next when could we see hunter biden actually faced sentencing? is there a possibility they can eat? he could even face present time? >> you're quite a bit comes in x mono and i think that critical is the timeframes here and here's why i say that the federal level, you have a pretrial services office. it's a probation office. they do a deep dive into your history and make many assessments as to you. they'll prepare an extensive report including their recommendation to the judge in terms of the prison time issue, the reason it's relevant here, right. to probation is that there's this federal guidelines, right? it's a chart and we know statutorily all 25 years, that's not going to be the case. they look at your offense level, right? do you have a criminal history and what do you accused of here? and they have these guidelines and within those guidelines and parameters, that's where you're sentencing will be probably seven several months. as a result of this offense and then it'll be up to the judge. but what ultimately happens is defense counsel will be given a motion schedule to submit memorandums, including a whole host of people who say, judge, this is a person who's going through addiction. please don't put them in. there'll be a whole lot of family members, friends et cetera prosecutors, then we'll weigh in on what happens then and then of course, the judge at the time of sentence will here oral argument and render determination final point, mano. and that's because the timing is critical. remember who's in office now and who might be in office for another four years as father, if that's the case, i know he's ruled out a pardon. but what about a commutation and the event has son is sentenced? we'll now the president commute that sentence such that he doesn't spend time in jail. we know that he'll be sentenced in the fall and then of course, you look at the other case, the tax case timing will be critical there if he gets convicted, if he sentenced on that, and if biden gets elected nothing re-elected, nothing to see here. if he doesn't and trump's in the white house at the time he said if convicted, then that's a problem too. i know a lot of ifs, a lot of then lot of wins, but the hypotheticals are very relevant here, mano, because of the occupant of the office and what they can do in terms of pardon or not? yeah. >> presence that he wouldn't pardon. but what about commutation? there'll be another question, tim parlatore, joey jackson, thank you for that. >> now i want to bring in my great panel of political reporters and commentators. >> welcome to you all. jimmy first eu, how do you think the president is obviously is going to impact him on a personal level. this is his son who's just been convicted on three charges. how is he dealing with this right now? >> look, i'm sure this is very painful. this isn't what he wanted. on the other hand, they've known about this case. they know about his addiction. they know the facts of the case. i don't think it's a complete surprise. i just want to point out, can you imagine donald trump? saying the following words? i will accept the outcome of this case mole continued to respect the judicial process as hunter considers an appeal, we are in a completely different world from new york, just a couple of weeks ago, you have been obviously a longtime adviser for president biden. he put out that statement and we obviously they were ready for this possibility. should he speak more about it? did she go out in public and go in front of the camera and talk about it that way. >> i don't think so. i think he's been very disciplined about not putting his thumb on the scale, not weighing in as jamie just alluded to, obviously, that is a significant contrast with donald trump. that is an important contrast that he wants to drive, that he also believed that no one is above the law, that he has faith in our judicial system. that is an important contrast for him politically. i think also it wouldn't just on a human level, i think it wouldn't be great for his son. mean, i don't think he wants to be out there every day talking about this incredibly difficult moment. so no, i think both politically and personally that wouldn't be smart. i think he's struck a pretty disciplined line here. the other thing i would just say quickly is obviously this is a personally difficult moment for him and his family. but remember he is somebody who has dealt with a lot of personally difficult moments in his life while juggling, being in public office, he lost his son to cancer when he was vice president. obviously his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash right after he was elected to the senate. so as he, as you think about how biden is going to navigate this time, he has a lot of experience being resilient in these moments and balancing the challenges of public life with personal difficulties. sure. michael you're a republican strategist they've been publicly was saying all along to tear justice system too dear justice. >> and here's the president's son prosecuted by federal government convicted by a jury. does that undercut that but i think it does a little bit, but not only as a republican strategists i also own a firearms company and i can tell you many individuals and the 2a community. >> welcome this case he's and we hope that hunter biden takes us up to the supreme court because we believe that because of bruin, which was written by a conservative justice thomas, that this case is going to be overturned. we also believe that the supreme court will likely change or at least issue some new rulings that will make it a little more difficult for some individuals who may want stricter gun laws as as a result of this, the court was pretty clear when they said any gun restrictions must be within the historical context of regulation. that is not indeed the case here. tim mentioned the 2023 court decision from the fifth circuit. they made it clear you cannot restrict someone who utilizes an illegal substance from gun ownership, which is why i thought it was very very bizarre that this case was even brought. anyway were it not for his last name being biden? i don't think the trial would have ever occurred. >> i don't i don't see this neutralizing the issue politically. i mean, even right after this decision, even though the facts are the justice department did, there is no evidence that the white house interfered hear that justice department proceeded independently. you already you have stephen miller and other trump allies already questioning why hunter wasn't pressed with charges were related to foreign interference. there's going to be criticism here, no matter what i do think that the president language on this will be consistent with the statement that you saw today. it actually reminds me of the debate last time i'm around when trump was attacking him, mentioning hunter biden and the president did come out and say, look, i stand by and loved my son. that was one of the more memorable moments of that election cycle about the language school stake consistent, or jump in. >> yeah, but i do think like of course the most in the justices stem over the past month two months or so, and what they've seen is two figures from different parties, both facing justice in a way. so i do want i do think it's not the outcome republicans would have preferred. it's harder for them to make that case and it's i think that's evident in the limited reaction we've seen in the first you know, it's early still of course, but it hasn't there hasn't been this groundswell of republican response it's always a strong political argument. they'd be making gela you covered the white house for cnn the president has actually been not distancing himself necessarily from hunter biden, jill biden has been going right angle day. >> the first lady to the trial, the president put out the statement. what do you make of the way the president's handled this? >> well, the first family has been very supportive of the rest of the family going through this inside the courtroom. but i think it's been interesting to see the way that the white house has tried to bifurcate the issue that this is a family matter. it's relatively siloed from the president's work in office. but i think that where we talk about the republican camp and how they're responding to this president trump personally is going to be hard pressed to respond to this because of the way that he's responded to this in the past, he was asked just last week in an interview their view about the hunter biden case, and he actually empathized and talked about his own family history with addiction. and for all of the policy differences and the personality differences between the two presidents. one thing they have in common is the family experience with addiction. neither man drinks because they say it hits too close to home. there's nothing that can he gained from that. and even today in seeing the response coming out of the trump camp mean they sought a very delicate balance in hitting back against some of the other legal matters facing hunter biden while also trying to be relatively compassionate on the part of the addiction case specifically, there is this very fortunate irony about president biden talking about gun violence prevention today, trying to campaign on the work that he's done to reform gun safety at a time when this case has been going on. but perhaps once again, he would point to that and say, my work is president is different than the work that's going on in my family. >> it is mentioned. >> the trump campaign. we're actually going to be hearing more from the trump campaign as we dig into all of this in just a few minutes, stick with us right back the most anticipated moment of this election and the stakes couldn't be higher. >> the president and the former president, one state, which are two very different visions for america