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Soon: Biden To Speak On Gun Safety After Jury Finds Son Guilty On Firearms Charges; Juror: Jury Initially Deadlocked But "No Politics Came Into Play"; Hunter Biden Found Guilty On All Counts In Gun Case; Lawmakers React To Hunter Biden's Guilty Verdict. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 11, 2024 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: This had not been on his schedule before today's verdict. But of course, that is where his son is, where his wife, Jill Biden. And certain, President Biden will want to be around his family and surrounded by his family at this very painful moment.

Before then, he will be speaking at this event in Washington meant to tout his record on curving gun violence. There is some political awkwardness in the timing of that. It was sort of a fluke of scheduling.

I'd be surprised if the president uses that speech to address this in any capacity. Certainly wanting to focus on a reduction in violent crime. But then from there, the president will be heading back to Delaware.

We did receive a statement, a written statement from the president shortly after this verdict was rendered, where the president said, "As I said last week, I am the president, but I am also a dad."

The president goes on to say, "Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved one's battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out on the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery."

The president went on to say, "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."

And he concludes, "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."

So the president very much viewing this case through the lens of a father, as a dad, not necessarily as a president.

I think there are two important things to note from that statement. One is sort of linking this case back to the millions and millions of Americans who have similarly struggled with addiction in their own families trying to relate their own experience to the experience of those families.

But also saying very specifically that he will accept the outcome of this case, drawing a very clean clear distinction with the verdict that was rendered earlier today in Wilmington and the federal criminal counts rendered against former President Trump, who has said that this amounts to a rigged judicial system.

President Biden very clearly saying that this is the rule of law, and he will accept the outcome.

We did here a little bit from him last week on this topic. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict no matter what it is?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So wo very terse yeses from the president there. It just shows how sensitive this topic is for him.

At the end of the day, this really does punctuate quite a painful saga for the Biden family, really starting with the death of their son, Beau Biden, though it's really sort of launched this addiction spiral that this case centered around.

President Biden very much focused on his family throughout all of this. You'll remember, he has been traveling back and forth to Europe. He is due to return to Europe again tomorrow for the G-7 summit.

But throughout all of this, he's remained in very close touch with his son, remained very concerned for his son's well-being. And I think his decision to return to Wilmington later today really does go to show how important he believes holding his son close at this very difficult moment will be.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, certainly.

Kevin, thank you so much for that report and for that musical interlude --

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: -- that we enjoyed so much as well.

LIPTAK: Well, yes. I don't know what that was. I think it's some practice, yes, some practice.

KEILAR: Pretty nice practice there.

Kevin Liptak, live for us at the White House, thank you.

[13:33:33]

We're going to get in a quick break. We are awaiting President Biden as he is going to be speaking at a gun safety event. We'll be right back with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:38:17]

KEILAR: We do a breaking news. We are awaiting President Biden. You see there the stage there on the right side of your screen. He's expected to speak any minute.

This is a previously scheduled event that is coming now, just hours after a jury found his son, Hunter Biden, guilty on all three charges in his federal gun trial.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And notably, CNN has spoken to three jurors after they reach this verdict, who say they felt they had no choice but to find Hunter Biden guilty.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

VOICE OF JUROR NO. 10 IN HUNTER BIDEN GUN TRIAL: The family was not at all -- we didn't discuss -- we didn't -- we didn't use Jill. We didn't use the -- President Biden.

Like I was -- I was telling someone earlier, like President Biden never really even came into play for me.

Because his name was only brought up once during the trial and that's when I -- that's when it kind of sunk in a little bit, oh, wow, this is -- this is the -- the sitting president's son who is on trial. And so that was -- yes, that was kind of hard to know, OK, what the trial is about now.

But you kind of put that out of your mind and after that -- after it was brought up, again, I did -- I did put it out on my mind. I never, never really added the two together.

(END AUDIO FEED)

KEILAR: That was, of course, Juror 10 speaking to CNN, talking about how really it was just once that it came up that President Biden -- obviously, this was the president's son on trial and that didn't really factor into their decision making there.

[13:40:07]

Let's go to Elie Honig.

Interesting, Elie, what you hear there from Juror 10. I'm also curious to know what you thought of what you heard from David Weiss, the special counsel and U.S. attorney overseeing this trial?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So it's fascinating and rare to get a glimpse inside the jury room like we just got from Juror number 10.

A couple of things jumped out at me. First of all, the juror said that when they took their first straw poll yesterday, it was 6-6. And then he said he came back today and it was 1-11. And eventually they got to unanimity.

That shows me that the jury did what juries are supposed to do. They kept open minds. They consider the evidence. They interacted. And they reached unanimity.

And this is why so few juries, in fact, hang. You might think more juries would have a hard time getting to unanimity. But the fact is they almost all do.

I also thought it was really interesting when the -- when the special counsel, David Weiss, came out to speak, he stressed the word "choice." And that was consistent with the theme that the prosecution made at the trial itself.

I think David Weiss knew and I think the juror confirmed the evidence of Hunter Bidens guilt just in a straightforward, objective way, was overwhelming.

The concern the prosecutors had was will sympathy enter into this so much. And so they stressed, yes, he was an addict, but you, yes, he was still a grown man who made choices.

And it sounds like that argument resonated, based on what we heard from the juror.

SANCHEZ: We also want to bring in Evan Osnos, who's been standing by.

Evan, your reaction to the news that, as soon as his speech wraps up, President Biden will be heading to Wilmington to be with his son following his conviction.

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That is certainly what his life has taught him to do, you know, in a moment like this, when there is yet one more fissure in this extraordinary American epic, really, of a family story in politics.

What do they do? I mean, they -- they really coalesce around one another. And in some respects, they're going to be -- tonight and in the days ahead, they're going to be accepting. It really is a moment of resignation to the reality of it.

I think they knew this was coming. Just statistically, the number of federal defendants that go to a -- that go to trial and ultimately are acquitted are very few. So they knew going into this that the chances were small.

But what you've heard since then is this emphatic point, from Joe Biden and even from Hunter Biden, that they are grateful for the family that they've got.

And I think when it comes to Joe Biden, you see that seam between his family life and his political life. And he's trying to acknowledge both of those facts in his statement.

Talking about supporting his son, but also underlining -- and this has obvious political resonance -- that he accepts the jury's verdict and he accepts the sanctity of the judicial process.

KEILAR: Yes. And he'd been asked, Evan, if Hunter Biden was convicted -- he was asked this when he was in Normandy, France -- would he pardon Hunter Biden. He said no. He said he would accept whatever the decision was.

I had heard some Republicans raise questions about whether it might mean that he could commute a sentence. But I think what a lot of people took from what Joe Biden said was that he was going to let it stand.

And that seemed to be very important to him to make sure that attacks on institutions would not be, I think, entertained by whatever action he would take.

OSNOS: I'll tell you, Brianna, I interviewed President Biden earlier this year.

And I was struck by the degree to which he emphasized the sense that he has, at this point in his life, at this point in his very long political career, has kind of come into the position of being responsible, in his mind, for trying to uphold American institutions, democratic institutions, the sanctity of the rule of law.

In many ways, he spent decades in politics without that being the thing that was so much in the foreground.

But now, here you have in a way that really, you might never have predicted a decade ago, you have a case that touches his own family, in which there is an obvious natural person and, I think, social pressure to say, well, is there some way in which I can mitigate his suffering?

And he has come out and saying, quite definitively, that he would not pardon him. I mean, in that interview, he didn't prevaricate. He said it very definitively, no, he wouldn't do it.

I think his statements so far have underscored that.

SANCHEZ: Evan, please standby.

Again, we're set to hear from President Biden at any moment. His speech was set to start at 1:30. Sometimes these things are slightly delayed. We'll obviously await the president's remarks and bring you the very latest as we get them -- as we get it.

[13:44:52]

Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You're watching breaking news coverage. A federal jury in Delaware has convicted the president's son, Hunter Biden, on three felony gun charges, finding him guilty of violating laws to keep drug addicts from owning weapons.

KEILAR: Hunter Biden could face as many as 25 years in prison and, at most, a $750,000 fine. But he's expected to receive much less as a first-time offender.

Joining us now is former Florida judge, Jeff Swartz.

Judge, first, what is your reaction to the verdict?

JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER FLORIDA JUDGE: I think it was the right verdict. I agree with Elie that the evidence was overwhelming.

And the question was whether someone was going to hold out because of the familiarity that everybody in Delaware has with the Bidens and possibly hold up a verdict. And I think that was shown by the juror, told you it was 11 to one this morning.

[13:50:11]

But what really happened here is exactly the way it is supposed to happen, which is why we give an Allen charge when a jury says that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked.

And that is, if you're in the minority, listen to the people that are in the majority -- majority. Go through the evidence, go through the elements of the offense, and figure out why it is that you think differently than they do.

And if you find that your reasons aren't reasonable, then you should vote with the majority. And that's what an Allen charge says. And it sounds like that's exactly what they did without even being given the charge.

SANCHEZ: Judge, CNN spoke to three jurors who said that they believed they had no choice but to find a Hunter Biden guilty, though they did question whether the criminal case should have ever been brought against the president's son.

What do you make of that?

SWARTZ: Well, I think it's interesting. Jurors have a tendency to find the real issues in cases. They thought the real issue to them was whether the case should be brought but realized that they had sworn to a duty to pay attention to the law and the facts and reach a verdict that was righteous with the charges that were brought against him. Again, we all know that the charges would not have been brought if the plea agreement that had been reached some months ago had gone forward. But the disagreement between Abbe Lowell and the prosecutor, Mr. Weiss, became public in front of a judge and a judge is going to say, I'm not taking this plea, we'll just go to trial, and that's basically what happened.

KEILAR: Yes. I just to build on that point, one of the jurors, Juror 10 said he didn't think that Hunter Biden should face jail time. At the same time, he could. I wonder what you think the sentence will be.

SWARTZ: Well, if I look at it, you know, realistically, the chances are that Mr. Biden is going to get a short stint, probably less than a year, for these charges.

And that probably will be determined by way of his pre-sentence report and what happens when he goes to the probation office and goes through this sequence, and what his actual guidelines are.

But this is a case where he accepted responsibility basically from the beginning. And as a result of which, I think a judge has a reason to deviate downwards from what the guidelines range may be and give him maybe a year and a day.

A year and a day is probably the best prison sentence you can get. Because you don't do day for day like you would for a year. With a year and a day, you do about eight months and then you get out and go into a halfway house.

His sentence will wait, most likely, until after the tax charges are completed in Los Angeles though.

KEILAR: All right. We'll have to see, ultimately, what is decided in this case.

Judge Jeff Swartz, thank you for your insights.

SANCHEZ: Let's go live now to Capitol Hill where lawmakers are reacting to this verdict.

We have CNN's Lauren Fox who is joining us.

Lauren, what are you hearing?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are getting an array of reaction from mostly Republicans on Capitol Hill. We have yet to hear from Democratic or Republican leadership.

But this coming from Senator Lindsey Graham, who said, quote, "It's important to remember that federal prosecutors in Delaware ignored allegations of tax evasion and shady business dealings and quietly put together a sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden.

"The prosecution only move forward on these gun charges after a judge rejected the sweetheart deal. Most people in Delaware would have faced federal legal repercussions for tax evasion and would not have been prosecuted on the gun charges."

Now, we should point out that Hunter Biden still has to face those gun charges in California. That trial's expected to begin in the fall.

But we should also point out that this is not the only person in the Republican Party to make the case that, if this were another citizen, they may not have faced the same gun charges.

Here's Representative Matt Gaetz who said, quote, "The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kind of dumb TBH," meaning, to be honest.

We are also hearing from the oversight chairman, James Comer, who released a lengthy statement. It's important going to keep in context that he has been investigating the Biden family over the course of the last several years.

He said, quote, "Hunter Biden's sweetheart plea deal was smoked out after scrutiny by a federal judge. Today's verdict is a step toward accountability.

"But until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Biden's corrupt influence peddling theme that generated over $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear that department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden."

Now we should also lay out the case for viewers at home that, despite the fact they have been investigating the Biden family and the president specifically for months now in the Oversight Committee, they have not produced any concrete evidence that Joe Biden benefited in any way from Hunter Biden's foreign business deals.

[13:55:12]

Just an important piece of context as we read these reactions coming out on Capitol Hill -- Brianna and Boris?

KEILAR: Very interesting. They can simultaneously poo-poo the findings and also celebrate them. Maybe not so surprising.

Lauren Fox, thank you so much for that, live for us, from Capitol Hill.

And don't go anywhere. We have much more here on our breaking news ahead.

We're waiting to hear from President Biden. We're keeping an eye on this stage at the moment. He is going to be speaking at a gun safety event on a day when his son was convicted of federal gun charges.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)