abbe lowell rested his case just a few minutes ago.now in a 15 minute break until the prosecution has a brief rebuttal. then it's up to the judge to give instructions to the jury. the jury will likely -- to putting how long the decisions. if the judge thought it was going to take a long time, they might wait till tomorrow. the to send the jury and for deliberations. or the whole thing could go to the jury this afternoon. we'll keep watching u.s. district court in wilmington, delaware. we'll be right back. and i saved hundreds. with all the money i saved i thought i'd buy stilts. being so tall definitely has its advantages. oh whoa. here you go, kiddo. thanks. hi honey ready to go? yup. there it is, there it is... ahhh...here we go. i guess it also has some disadvantages. yes it does. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty, liberty.♪ (vo) sail through the heart of historic cities and unforgettable scenery with viking. unpack once and get closer to iconic landmarks, local life and cultural treasures. because when you expe

defense attorney abbe lowell, forgive me. "america reports" now. >> sandra: here we go, breaking news afternoon any moment now we are expecting to hear from part special counsel david weiss after the president's son was found guilty on all three counts in his case. we are also waiting comment from the white house, karine jean-pierre will be briefing for the first time since hunter biden's criminal gun trial began. hello and welcome everyone i'm sandra smith, john, great to be with you. >> john: i am john roberts in washington this is "america reports." at the washington hilton this hour to remark on gun violence. its juxtaposition were his own son has now been conducted on felony charges for owning a gun while on drugs. we have an all-star lineup to discuss everything coming out of the courtroom. >> sandra: but we are starting with david outside of the federal courthouse in wilmington, delaware. david, i want to make sure we tell our viewers off the top of our own jake gibson just sat down with juror number ten. we are turnin

and abbe lowell is looking more, more angry. he seems actually i mean, i know he gets paid a lot of moneyd ey. he's highly regarded, but he seems a little disorganized. and in fact, he was, you know,se sort of shouted by one of the witnesses today, one of the gun store employees who just said how annoying it wasndt that prosecutor that hunter biden's defense team had been a messs defens to deal with ande had to call them and he should be asleep because he's too shifhiftt worker and he's sick f it. and so abbe lowell has you know ,i don't know if he's done such a great job. maybe this is part of his technique is to show the jurors that 100 doesn't have that's like a defense team. r asbut that image is undercutut by the the sort of biden family presence in the courtroom. you know, joe biden dressed to the nines. she's there every day. but yesterday when she had to go to paris, but she' s back again today. and, you know, hunter biden's aunt, val biden, his wife, i mean, they're all likereal hou something out of real housewives of w

he showed up a short while ago with his wife melissa and attorney abbe lowell. there was some discussion the defense team floated having him take the stand last week. he did not do so and they moved into final deliberations. the deliberations were an hour ten minutes yesterday. the prosecution says there is overwhelming evidence that in october 2018 hunter was a drug user, lied about it on a federal form to buy a gun and illegally possessed that weapon for 11 days. prosecutors recapped text messages, testimony from hunter's texts and the gun store owner who sold him the gun. biden family members in the courtroom which included first lady jill biden saying people sitting in the gallery are not evidence. and that nobody is above the law. the defense acknowledges hunter dealt with the drug addiction from 2015 to 2019. abbe lowell maintains hunter was not a drug user when he bought and owned that firearm. he called the prosecution's case a magic trick relying on evidence of past drug abuse to prove hunter was using drugs when he bought that gun. lowell says there ar

abbe lowell filed three on behalf of hunter and there will be a fight over jury instructions.rgument will be, you showed he used drugs before, you showed he used drugs after, he had just gotten out of detox, what evidence he was using or addicted to drugs and thought he was when he filled out that form. it may sound ridiculous, abbe is inventsive, they are trying to give a hook to the juror to say, look, they have not proven their case. >> lawrence: i'm curious with all the family in the courtroom, you have been on special co counsel, u.s. attorney ashes pointed by trump and you were not in the criminal case, what does it look like to you when all the family members being in delaware with that name and that political weight, is that bad or good for the prosecution? >> oh, i think they'd rather be in another jurisdiction. i don't think that is great for them. but they have a strong case. what i would be worried about if i'm on the prosecution team, if you get a conviction, will it st stand up because of the whole diversion agreement and whether or not that should have been in e

and as soon as the jury is in the room but as you pointed out, abbe lowell, a hunter biden's attorney? no surprise here. let's be honest indicated did in the pretrial in the pretrial hearing just now that he doesn't believe 100 biden will with testified the formal word will come when the jury is present and part of what they're arguing right now behind the scenes. >> is what jury instructions, what the jury will be told about all of this. one of the things that abbe lowell got agreed to was that the jury will be told that you can't hold it against the defendant for not testifying in his own defense the judge, though, has push back on the defense's efforts to add more language to the jury instructions that would be more favorable to 100, for instance, the idea that he would he didn't knowingly violate the law, which is something that defense is really all about. >> and they also wanted to they also want to make the argument that hunter biden did not think he was addicted to drugs when he bought that gun? >> in october of 2018? that's the reason why we're here and why hunter is facing t

abby lowell focused heavily on the gun form on friday. he argued that different items on the form were put there different times questioning the overall form. he says there was a lot of sloppy paper work and sloppy bookkeeping by some of the store employees. if hunter biden does not testify on monday, neil, it's possible this case could go to the jury and we could have a verdict on monday. neil. neil: amazing. all right, david, thank you for that. i want to go to john yu, and great on this stuff. put yourself representing a client like hunter biden. would you have him testify, john? >> first, i'd make sure to charge him a lot of money. that's a hard job. neil: very hard job. >> abby lowell, a great trial lawyer, great criminal defense lawyer. i think that hunter, probably like donald trump, in a weird parallel probably wants to testify, too, and waive his right to self-incrimination, it's a constitutional right to be silent because it's up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that hunter did it. the problem for hunter, th

and i think that's what abbe lowell has done with this argument. and we'll say, are they able to decide this case? mechanically? are they going to exercise their human feelings and emotions and evan asna is just a quick one for you before we bid you do a lot of very embarrassing details about hunter biden's life came out in this case. i was shocked to discover i knew that he had cheated on his wife with his dead brother's widow, but i was surprised that he had introduced crack cocaine to her. that was stunning and horrifying what is the feeling among friends, family, and supporters of hunter biden about all of this? >> yeah. i think part of the anguish of this is that in some ways hunter biden had tried to live his addiction out loud. he talked about it. he'd written about, he'd written a memoir about it. he tried to own it as a step towards recovery. and this process because of the nature of it, because of the nature of the charges, the specificity of the moment in time, it has meant dredging up the most really ornate and awful details of that par

perhaps we may hear something from his attorney abbe lowell. i want to note quickly special counsel david weiss was not in the courtroom as well. a lot of people were not prepared for this. the first lady wasn't here. she has been here pretty much every day of the trial except one to support hunter and special counsel himself was not here in the courtroom. >> harris: i'm glad we have those details. i don't know if some were gathered for the reading of the verdict. this judge got right to it. i want to bring in now and thank you very much, david. we'll check back in and out. news is still happening outside the courthouse. they haven't left yet. andy mccarthy, welcome to the focus. 120 days to sentencing. what needs to happen next if they have to appeal and a tax fraud trial before the election. >> you can't desegregate the politics from the legal either on the republican side or the democratic side apparently. the tax case is supposed to happen on september 5th. i imagine there will be frantic efforts to get it put off until after the election.

then defense attorney abbe lowell called it an accordion defense. he said that while the prosecution certainly can introduce evidence over a long period of time, they need to really shrink it down to that specific series of weeks around the gun purchase which he said they did not do beyond a reasonable doubt. it's also worth noting, chris, that we have talked about the presence of the first lady. we talk about president biden who's in wilmington today. they have largely been out of the jury, the trial at this point, until the closing arguments. we saw the lead prosecutor in this case, leah wise, he said all of this was not evidence. people sitting in the gallery is not evidence. remember how he began his opening statements by talking about hunter biden and his famous last name. that was something abbe lowell took issue with in his closing argument, suggesting that the prosecution maybe was out of bounds in invoking the first family in this case. the most important part of this is what abbe lowell is trying to demonstrate right now, in hunter biden's

abbe lowell said hunter was not in possession of the lab top but at a computer store.ll asked the f.b.i. agent if she knew what was going on when the computer was in that store. she replied she was not there to observe it. any evidence of tampering with the laptop? she said there was not. first lady jill biden spent another morning in court with her stepson and left a half hour ago. next up the prosecution is expected to call kathleen buell. hunter's ex-wife in a legal fight with him over accusations of unpaid alimony and call more of his ex-s including his sister-in-law, hallie biden, and also zoe, another ex-girlfriend of hunter biden here today. back to you. >> harris: thank you very much. thank you. the "new york post" the pair of opinion pieces now. jonathan turley with this headline. hunter's cynical defense in a gun case. you are not going to convict a biden, are you, delaware? another column with this headline. joe biden making a cynical power play aimed at keeping son, hunter, out of prison. him in the white house. andrew cherkasky is with me now, former feder

now, the question is, for the jury, will they buy what the doubts that abbe lowell is trying to sow with some of his arguments alright, evan, thank you so much for that reporting. really appreciate you being there in that courtroom for us i want to bring in criminal defense attorney ron qb. thank you so much for being here, ron. i just want to start where evan left off based on what we are hearing from the testimony of kathleen buhle, what is your sense of the impact of that considering? h, i didn't say anything. keep going. i think there was a little bit of a of an interruption finished at that, please? >> oh i'm sorry you know, it basically jury nullification works in these kinds of cases where nobody was seriously injured the offense was transitory. >> it can be explained through addiction and now the defendant is a much better man, although frankly jury nullification has a bad history of the united states when it comes to crimes of violence, particularly against people of color but that's not this. this is a basic drug or gun or gun case. >> prawn, i always learn so much from you eve

"there was no actual witness," lowell said, saying prosecutors "don't have proof." and hunter biden's defense attorney lasering in on the women in his life who testified about his drug use. pointing out that his ex-wife -- they divorced in 2015 -- had no direct knowledge of the facts in this case. and that hallie biden got an immunity deal from prosecutors to testify. lowell also railed against the prosecution's questioning of hunter's daughter naomi, calling their cross-examination of her "extraordinarily cruel." "it's time to end this case," he concluded. jurors deliberated for just about an hour before heading home. they'll resume deliberations in the morning. prosecutors say this is a simple case for them, but they will have to consider three separate charges, and a defense that asked them to look not only at the prosecution's evidence of hunter biden's drug addictions, but also the evidence he was trying to get clean. david? >> david: terry, thank you. >>> meanwhile tonight, former president donald trump's interview with a new york probation officer earlier tod

lowell claims hunter was rushed by a local sales clerk at the wilmington,delaware store.l told jurors the special counsel cannot establish a chain of custody of the gun pouch that had what is alleged to be cocaine residue, putting blame on hunter's sister-in-law hallie biden. his late brother's widow. lowell insists hallie biden panicked when she found the gun in hunter's car, put it in the pouch and threw it in a garbage can outside a local grocery store. and prosecutors showed a text message from hunter biden to hallie biden the day after he purchased that gun in 2018 where he allegedly told her that he was meeting with a local drug dealer behind a baseball park here in wilmington, delaware. and according to his book around that time, hunter says that he was involved in smoking crack roughly every 15 minutes. hallie biden will eventually be a witness in this case. and, tomorrow, we will likely hear from his ex-wife, kathleen. gillian? >> gillian: david spunt in wilmington, delaware again for us tonight, thank you. attorney general merrick garland now is responding to al

now, abbe lowell hunters lawyer has been really trying to portray hunter as a family person and has been family as as part of that that he is just i think one of you, whereas the prostitution is basically saying what? you just alluded to, which is don't be intimidated. this is not these people are not evidenced. these people are not really part of the trial how would you describe kind of the the mood among the biden family members who attended from what? you could observe it, what did what did that feel like yeah. i think they you can see a little bounce in their step after abbe lowell's closing, having just a fulsome 87 minute defense from of hunter when i think a lot of the family feels he has just been hit day after day after day for the last several years and i think i even saw bowel biden, the president, sister give them a go, give abby go, get them. right? right afterward. but after at the very end i don't think the family likes being at felony trial for joe biden's son, and you could tell there were certainly moments ashley biden in particular, the president's daughter and hunter

and, you know, abbe lowell is a good attorney. two reasons. kellyanne, thank you. charlie hurd, thank you. now, by the way, we turnention our attention to delaware. day four of hunter biden's trial. he is accused of buying a gun whils oe addicted to drugs and then lying about his addiction on a gun. plicat today, we learned about hunter biden's relationshipio with 24aa year old stripper and his reliance on taking a hitstrippek cocaine at times every 20 minutes. we also learevery 20n hunter ind crack cocaine to his former girlfriendintraine, who was also previously married to his brother. apparently, she dumpedy marrie s gun in a trash can when his addiction seemed out of control. terro out of terror and fear ford fear his safety and her childrenn sae safety, of course, despite the evidence, we do want her toy get a fair. bel we dieo believe this case, frankly, based on the evidence i've see, basen is a slam dunk.. hunter is, though, on home turf in delaware. a it's not a hostile venue like it was for donald trump inue new york. regardless of the outcome, rega did c

during one of the breaks and later on, you could see she was nodding as abbe lowell was trying to drive home that point, yet again, with the fbi agent who was on the stand, she paged back to her notes and nodded as abbe lowell's making that point again, a lot of emotion we expect some more of that today when we get the first of three x's that are going to be to understand in this trial today, kate so interesting, great to have you there. >> i've and thank you so much. johnny, are with me now, former prosecutor jeremy saland german. let me just pick up with what evan last reported right there because with his own eyes, he saw jury nodding as abbe lowell, who's the defense lawyer, was cross-examining an fbi agent there. what are your feelings when you see that when you're a process? cuter and a defense lawyer, i think in the context of what we're hearing and seeing, this is more beneficial to the defense or at least appears as such because there's a thing called empathy and compassion and jurors are not immune from that. and especially a case like this where people can and really two, dic

after judge threw it out, there was question from aeb /* lowell. you cannot throw this out.he judge said the deal was not signed and will go forward. >> brian: embarrassing for the biden family, the love child, beau's widow and his former wife who is owed almoney. >> lawrence: crack pictures, granddaughter. >> steve: what will happen 8:30 eastern time, they will start jury selection. 250 potential jurors are on tap to be interviewed. once they get 12 and a couple alternates. >> lawrence: we are being told it was not hunter biden, it was ashley biden. >> ainsley: their daughter. >> steve: what hunter biden is charged with three felonies, two counts of making false statement and third count trying to guilty a gun while addicted to drugs. what we have heard from abbe lowell, every corner, what they will introduce is contrary evidence to portray essentially reasonable doubt. land >> lawrence: larger point, we hear guns, guns with them and more laws on the book. the fact current president son is lying. you want more measures but you don't want your son held accountable and you ha

his lawyer, abbe lowell, telling the court he may call his defendant to the stand on monday.n testimony earlier today, lowell tried to poke holes in the authenticity of that firearms transaction record pressing gun store employees over whether there were two different versions of the form and if it was filled out properly. lowell painted a picture of sloppy paperwork by store staff. >> i mentioned the first lady in the courtroom. she was in the courtroom monday, tuesday, and wednesday. thursday she was in france for d-day commemoration event. she flew back to wilmington. she was in the courtroom today. she is actually flying back to france later to be at a state dinner in france tomorrow only to come back to the united states on sunday here in wilmington with the president. we have asked the white house a little bit more about these trips, who is paying for them to try to find out a little bit more details. no answer yet from the white house on that. but, rich, big news if hunter biden does take the stand on monday. if he doesn't, it's possible we go right into closing argume

well, as a turns out, one of the other things suggested by abbe lowell's team is that it's the chaincustody. it was never tested for cocaine for five years. and it sat in a police locker. so they are going to be talking about that. it's to your point it's all about reasonable doubt. >> lawrence: why are secret service agents going to go pick up the gun? >> brian: from the former vice president's son. >> lawrence: what is going on the secret service goes pick up the gun. >> brian: now they are denying the secret service did it. of course they did. went across she got mad. she got worried that hunter biden has got a gun, no kidding. >> steve: right. >> brian: she threw it in a dumpster by a super market got it back. secret service got it back not hunter. they have to throw out everything. now it turns out his ex-wife said owed about $5 million in alimony. all this stuff is going to come out. >> ainsley: bought the gun in 2018 in october. so they have to prove that on that date when he purchased the gun and he checked no, i'm not doing drugs, that he was actually doing drugs. >> brian:

and abbe lowell, not really trying to prove hunter biden's innocence, in fact he specifically stated and pointed out to the jury that that's not his responsibility as a defense attorney, that the jury instructions don't require him to do so, but instead making the argument that the prosecution has not crossed that high bar of reasonable doubt and therefore they need to argue that he is not guilty. on the other hand, though, the prosecution says that this is a pretty open and shut case, that the evidence points very clearly that hunter biden was actively using drugs at this time. they demonstrate and show instances where there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to suggest that he was using drugs during the period of time where he checked no on that box, and that should be more than enough for the jury to convict. we expect these closing arguments to wrap up in the next few minutes. there will be another round of jury instructions before the jury gets the case. there is a possibility that we could have a verdict by the end of the day. >> lisa, this would be a fast turn around.

you don't know if he was drinking, using, or either of the above, lowell asked. i don't know, she responded. hunter biden faces the prospects of a prison term if convicted of these three federal charges. in an interview, president biden ruled out a future pardon for his son. scott macfarlane, cbs news, wilmington, delaware. >>> a federal judge ordered former top trump aide steve bannon to report to prison by july 1st to serve a four-month sentence. last month a federal appeals panel upheld bannon's 2022 contempt of congress conviction. he defied a subpoena to testify and supply documents to the house committee investigating the january 6th capitol riot. he says he'll fight the order which could delay his surrender date. >>> and conspiracy theorist alex jones has agreed to liquidate his assets to pay the $1.5 billion he owes to the families of victims of the 2012 sandy hook elementary school massacre. courts in two states found jones liable for defamation and ordered him to pay the money for repeatedly lying about the shooting being a hoax. the decision means jone

lowell contrast the gun form questions versus asking if your user of drugs on the form. he was using in the present tense. the details -- >> john: that goes back to what jonathan turley was saying where abby lowell's defence is saying wasn't doing drugs at the moment he bought the gun. but there is plenty of evidence he was doing it before and after. >> sandra: alright and they were told the prosecution is doing a rebuttal quickly. that does it for. >> john: us so much for our monday look ahead for tuesday pearson which -- thank you for joining us on. >> sandra: john roberts i'm centre smith peer the story with martha maccallum begins now. >> martha: they queue guys good afternoon everyone i'm martha maccallum and this is the story. we just heard it moments ago breaking now the prosecutors are beginning their rebuttal arguments in the hunter biden gun trial. dramatic moment in court where the prosecutor at 1 point pointed right where the first lady was sitting. judge jeanine pirro joins us on all of the scenes playing out right now. stunning new video just released by is

but anderson abbe lowell is a very capable defense lawyer and he leaned into that critical gap. and the state of mind question this has to be knowing. that means it hunter biden had to say on purpose, not by mistake i'm not an addict. i'm not a user. and lowell argues well, he thought he was not an addict at that time, and there's no proof he was using prosecution ahead on points not impossible. you get a defense verdict or a hung jury what, do you think? >> yeah, i agree. i mean, i think they'll probably get a conviction here. there's a very narrow path for the defense to win this. they really do have to lean into this knowingly and they can't prove it on these days, but prosecutors always say follow your common sense, right? like the guy has been in rehab, people around that time, there's these text messages it's about dealing and the hallie biden testimony about paraphernalia in the car. and so use your common sense, was that argument does that make sense to you that well, i didn't think i was an addict on that day and therefore, i signed this document, say i'm not an addict.

abby lowell, the woman representing biden in this case, spoke about hunter biden may have been usingl at the time of the purchase but will challenge the facts that he was using drugs, and to quote mr. lowell, he said there's no such thing as a high functioning crack addict, to use his words. >> we should note, those opening statements have now concluded and both sides delivered their messages. we anticipate witness testimony to begin shortly. glenn, part of the prosecution's opening message is that while drug addiction may not be a choice, lying and possessing a gun is a choice. they also added no matter who you are, no one is above the law. how effective could that be with the jury? >> it will be effective, and the question is, how will the defense go about defending hunter biden? i was trying to read the real time reporting of both the prosecutor and defense openings, and it looks like they have substantial evidence hunter biden unlawful purchased the game by indicating on the purchase form that he was not an addict or a user of illegal narcotics, and the defense seems to be going

i don't think the jury will interpret the law that way. >> reporter: lowell said a dozen times that thes based on conjecture and suspicion in the outcome would change his life. president biden's daughter ashley can be seen crying in the courtroom, and hunter biden acknowledges buying the gun having once been an addict, but might've considered himself in recovery and no longer a drug user when he got the firearm. the prosecutor singled out two text messages shown one day after he purchased the gun. he sent a message saying he was meeting a dealer named mooke and one day after that saying he was sleeping on car smoking crack. the jury deliberated about an hour, before the judge sent them home to resume their work tomorrow. deciding a case that could result in the president's son going to prison. norah. >> norah: watching very closely, scott macfarlane, thank you. today donald trump met with a probation officer after being convicted of 34 felony charges in new york. in a month he will face sentencing. cbs's robert costa joins us now. and this was something we have never seen before. >> rep

on cross-examination, biden defense lawyer abbe lowell asking "you've have no idea whether he was just saying that or whether he was actually there?" "correct," hallie said. lowell also getting hallie to concede despite her impression of hunter's behavior and despite his finds drug paraphernalia, she never physically saw him use drugs in 2018. as the case closes in on a verdict, president biden saying today if his son is convicted, he will not offer him a pardon. lester? >> okay, ryan, thank you. >>> in just 60 seconds, the suspected gilgo beach serial killer back in court. the new murder charges he faces and the chilling blueprint prosecutors say was found on his computer. nd the you'll get better when you're not blamed for a condition you can't control. you'll get better when your pain isn't minimized, dismissed, forgotten. we will never stop trying to get better. because when medicine gets better, all of us can get better. (♪♪) ( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. -cologuard®? -cologuard. cologuard! -screen for colon ca

"you don't know if he was drinking, using, or either of the above," lowell asked.ow," she responded. hunter biden faces the prospect of prison time if convicted on these charges. in an interview today, president biden ruled out a future pardon for his son. norah? >> norah: scott macfarlane, thank you. one of donald trump's most outspoken allies, steve bannon, was ordered by a federal judge to report to prison by july 1st to serve a four-month sentence. bannon was found to be in contempt of congress in 2022 after failing to appear for a deposition ordered by the house january 6th committee and refusing to turn over documents. bannon says he'll fight to appeal his conviction all the way to the supreme court. bannon's former boss, donald trump, is in battleground arizona tonight, firing up supporters at his first campaign event since he was convicted in the hush money case. cbs's caitlin huey-burns is in phoenix. >> reporter: donald trump today took aim at immigration in the battleground border state key to his chances of winning the presidency. >> joe biden wants an

that is lowell on the between.y the local salesman in the will ming wilmington, delaware store. the prosecution cannot establish chain of custody of gun pouch with alleged cocaine residue. why? hallie biden, later in a relationship with hunter, tampered with the pouch. lowell claimed hallie biden panicked found the gun in hunter biden's car, threw it in a pouch, in local grocery can outside of a local grocery store. someone going through the garbage can found the gun. it has been in evidence five years. something else shown in court been in evidence half a decade in evidence locker room, hunt hunter biden's laptop. it was physically lifted up by prosecutors shown in court t was not plugged in. they did not take things directly from the laptop for people to see. prosecutors are showing evidence from the laptop overall but it was the first time that anybody really in the public has had a chance to see that laptop for those in the courtroom including the jury, larry. larry: wow, that's all i can say. david spunt thank

lowell told jurors kicking crack cocaine is hard. kicking alcohol is harder.s she did today, first lady jill biden has attended nearly every day of court. shuttling back and forth between france where the president was on a state visit. taxpayers reportedly were footing the bill for the trans-atlantic travel there are now reports the democratic national committee will pay for some of the costs. the first lady, hunter, his wife, and others were seen just outside the courtroom doors this morning. huddled together in a group hug with bowed heads and apparent prayer. >> president biden was at his home here in wilmington about 10 minutes away from the courthouse for most of the day. now on his way back to the white house. he never came to court over the past week. we are told he is getting regular updates about his son. trace? >> trace: david spunt live for us in wilmington. david, thank you. the united nations security council approving its first resolution endorsing a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the israel-hamas war. the vote on the u.s. sponsored resolution

lowell asked. "i don't know," she responded.prison term if convicted of these three federal charges. in an interview earlier today, president biden ruled out a future pardon for his son. scott macfarlane, cbs news, wilmington, delaware. >>> president biden is in france where he took part in ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the d-day landings. overshadowing those events, russia's war in ukraine. and because of that, russia was the only ally nation not invited. during a speech, biden warned that democracy is now more at risk than at any point since world war ii. cbs's elaine cobbe is in normandy with more. >> reporter: president biden and the first lady bowed their heads in front of a wreath at the american cemetery overlooking omaha beach, where more than 9,000 u.s. soldiers are buried. earlier, he was joined by french president emmanuel macron, who bestowed the legion of honor, france's highest award, on 11 u.s. world war ii veterans. >> in memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us

when abbe lowell, the defense attorney had his chance to deliver his opening statements, he tried to out the chain of custody for the gun that hunter biden purchased. he tried to over the course of explaining that timeline prove that -- at least create some reasonable doubt about whether or not hunter was addicted to drugs, using drugs at the time. so he noted that there had been some cocaine residue that was found on the weapon after it was discovered, and mr. lowell suggested based on the fact that it was in a locked box in the car, that hunter biden had been using, that hallie, when she recovered the gun, may have been responsible for the cocaine residue being put on it. this is something that will be litigated over the course of the coming weeks here. and it speaks to why the family is so concerned about this moment. the president, the first lady are looking at this as parents, but also as grandparents and, of course, hallie biden was with the first family last week when they visited the grave site of beau biden, who passed away nine years ago last week. also there were hallie bi

abbe lowell is a great attorney, his defense is kind of ridiculous and proven by the fact guy who soldim quickly to get in and get that gun, he said, i don't make extra money if i sell a gun or don't sell a gun, that kind of took that away. there is issue, why was he really user of or addicted to and what did he think? it doesn't matter what he thinks and prosecution made it clear through zoey, the exgirlfriend, he recognized he was still an addict. that put a gut punch in it. >> steve: sounds like they got the goods onim had, will abbe lowell introduce enough reasonable doubt to sway one? that is a possibility. there is phenomenon called jury nullification. >> i know it well. >> steve: you are the judge, it means they sat there, listened and sounded like he was guilty, but they find him not guilty. >> judge jeanine: selection was one of the most important parts of the trial. eight or nine of them have someone addicted to drugs or overdosed, they know the pain visited with drugs. if they feel the prosecution proven beyond a reasonable doubt, make no mistake, they already have. how many

so you had abbe lowell, the defense counsel, making a series of claims in his opening statement, thatment proceeded to knock down within 48 hours. so by the end of the second day, virtually nothing the defense said in opening arguments still had any viability. they suggested that hunter biden might have just been sober during that period, and the government came in and showed a text message the next day trying to score drugs with a guy named mookie, and witnesses that said, when they were spending time with him, he was taking hits of crack every 20 minutes. they suggested he didn't check the box on the form. they brought an employee who said, "i stood there and watched him check that box." it was a series of arguments that the prosecution did an excellent job knocking down. >> john: so you can prove your case, but then you still have to convince the jury. he suggested in a column earlier this week that jury nullification is something abbe lowell and hunter biden might be counting on. he said, "in addition to a favorable jury pool, his travails with drugs will prompt one or more jurors

one of abbe lowell's defenses is that he was also an alcoholic. know, who's to say whether he was talking about alcohol or whether she was talking about drugs. i mean, maybe she remembers, but this sort of mixture of things, jurors have experience with this, many jurors do, often i was a state court judge for a period of time, i tried a lot of driving under the influence cases. sometimes it was very difficult to even pick a jury because so many jurors had had devastating experiences with alcohol on one side or the other. and so i think that it will play a role in this, and it could be to hunter biden's benefit. >> mike memoli, carol lam, thank you both. >>> and still to come, retribution as a platform, what exactly would donald trump do to political and legal rivals if he retakes the white house? his latest interview. >>> meanwhile, president biden is in normandy just leaving to return to paris, but only after issuing a rallying cry for democracy. i'll talk to the national co-chair for biden/harris 2024 for how effective that message will be on th

it was and what the job of abbe lowell for him to do here is to have jurors have at least a little bit of doubt that during that day, that day when he bought the gun, that he was not using drugs or that the prosecution doesn't have any proof that he was using drugs, that particular day. boris briana evan perez live from outside the courthouse in wilmington, delaware thinking so much, let's dig deeper now what cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, elliot williams, eliot, thanks so much for being with us how do you see this case shaping out? >> so for as prosecutors are using portions of hunters memoir, just these giant chunks that the jury is listening to outline their case. >> it's the defendant's own words in this particular statute among criminal statutes, broadly, is not that complicated. prosecutors simply have to prove number one individual the defendant possessed a firearm and that he was addicted to or using drugs two things. it's not like donald trump's trial that was far more complex. now here's the thing, this whole and the language is who is an unlawful user of or

we also saw this morning the defendant -- the defense attorney abbe lowell trying to do everything he cross-examiing the fbi special agent, asking her to specify the exact dates of various pieces of evidence most of which were well before the october 8th, 2018 purchase date. that's critical because they're trying to show that he may have been abusing drugs prior to that date, that's not in doubt. they maintain some of the purchases, some of the significant cash withdrawals were about purchasing alcohol, which would not be illegal. i talked about this as a sensitive moment for the family. the first lady yet again for the third day in a row is here, present, sitting behind her son, we have seen a show of support from other friends and family members. we talked about that in the context of the first lady as the mother of the defendant, but she is also the grandmother of this family here who are now going to be hearing about their mother and their father testifying -- mother testifying against the father in the case that could see him put in jail. this is all part of why the family and th

abbe lowell try to make the case that hunter biden may not have been using drugs at the time that heought the gun, but there is significant evidence he was a user of or addicted to a controlled substance at the time. this was a text message the prosecution played out to the jury. q it's q i'm at 7-eleven. eo, it's q hoping my text reach you. already lost cell. this number is a contact number for me, feel free to hit me back. hunter: meet me at 7-eleven at three. that was the day before he saw the gun. if you were a juror, jonathan, what would that save you? >> well, i think it's rather obvious. particularly the day after he bought the gun at there was another text with him trying to score drugs off a guy named mookie. what the defense said you don't know if he was at 7-eleven a buy a doughnut and that is something that was interesting when fox reached that juror, one of the first concrete things he said was about the 7-eleven message. in his book, hunter talks about scoring drugs at 7-eleven in wilmington. that is an example of where a type of jury nullification defense can go too fa

abbe lowell is renowned as a jury whisperer.icult and even though surviving is a trial is pretty low. the odds against donald trump the odds are stacked for hunter biden in this case. interestingly his own laptop that he abandoned and pretended was russian disinformation or stolen from him or hacked or whatever that, is the prime trial exhibit here key witness you witness former love, former sister-in-law hallie biden. she will hold the key, i think, to this case steve plus, in addition to the laptop. they have his memoir that he wrote where he talks about smoking crack. okay. are you telling the truth there or telling the truth here. it will be interesting to see. things kick off two hours from right now with jury selection. miranda, thank you very much. i'm sure you will be in the courtroom all week. >> thanks, steve. >> steve: you bet. ahead, president donald trump is going to answer some of your questions in a tv exclusive. >> so much adversity and persecution for years. what's your relationship with god like and how do you

if i'm lowell, i'm thinking about that presentation to the judge starting now. >> what kind of timeline looking at for an appeal and is it likely to just overlap with these tax charges that he's facing another case? >> you know, it's hard to say what timeline any federal court of appeals will be on in terms of an appeal when that briefing will be had. i think it's unlikely we would see a decision prior to the election let alone maybe even an oral argument. in all likelihood, he'll be sentenced on this jury verdict first then in september, assuming he doesn't plead out before then, will go and have his trial in california on those tax charges then the election will come. >> do you think it's likely he'll get jail time? >> i don't. >> just based on what we know of people in this same situation in the past. >> i don't. i'm thinking about david weiss who today said no person is above the law and no person should be more accountable on this, on these charges if they are convicted. that to me is him sending a signal he doesn't believe hunter biden necessarily deserves a stringent prison sente

but lawyer abi lowel said investigators were placing too much emphasis on his four-year history of drug that no one actually saw hunter using or purchasing drugs. during the period when he acquired weapons. the jury was given the day off before reaching its decision in the hunter biden case. today's discussions did not end with a verdict. tomorrow morning they will return to their discussions and decide whether hunter is guilty? he could face up to 25 years in prison. almost the entire biden family came out today to support hunter. first lady jue biden is the president's brother and sister. president biden himself was not there, the media and democrats believe that he did everything right. the us president has withdrawn himself from this process. his position is clear, consistent and honest. he doesn't want to interfere with justice. imagine yourself in his place, at least for a millisecond. in the shoes of a parent whose child is going through what he is going through. it's complicated. it's not easy and it's painful. i'm glad that when the president was asked about this. drug addicts

. >> look, jessica, this is about 35 minutes into abbe lowell opening remarks and i noticed that obviously the jurors, it seemed to be paying very close attention. they were a lot of them were taking notes, taking down notes on various aspects of what the prosecution was arguing and what the defense is arguing. and then one juror, in particular, an african american woman, was sitting there, began becoming it appeared very emotional. she grabbed some tissues from her bags, dabbed her eyes. doctor knows at several points, about 35 minutes into abbe lowell presentation he was at the time describing some of the circumstances under which the gun ended up in a trash can. hallie biden, who? hunter biden? and was in a relationship with through the gun away in a trash can in the grocery store. that's where this juror started becoming emotional. we don't know exactly what the reaction is is in regard to we do know though that there are several jurors who are on this panel who described that they had family members who've struggled with the diction. they are on this on this jury. and so you can imagi

the defense are abbe lowell made it made a big deal about it says are are you meaning now it's a little bit like bill clinton is there a relationship? >> we're now in the unknown, we're in the great black box of our jury process. >> we don't know what they're doing back there. they could be back with a verdict in an hour. they could be back with a verdict later today. hey, they could take till the end of the week. we just don't know. i do think this is a case i agree with elliott. i think he's pretty clearly guilty under the a reasonable take on the evidence, but there's also a lot of reason here why a jury may just say, we don't like this charge, we don't like this case. we don't like the way it was handled and therefore, find a way to not return a guilty verdict. >> we were actually talking about this a little bit earlier. here in the green room. the same statute provision involves borrowing the possession of firearms by someone convicted of a felony, right that's easy. you come into court with a certificate of conviction that says this guy is convicted and therefore shouldn't have ha

those are really the two most important questions and abbe lowell is one of the best.n edwards back in the day with the special counsel. and did not call john edwards and they won the trial. so it's gonna be it's an agonizing weekend. i'm sure for abby and his client and ultimately the decision this is one of the few things that the client hi and decides not the lawyer at the end of the de hunter biden will make the decision. i'd say there's a 20 to 25% chance he gets up on the stand and we saw his daughter, naomi biden taking the stand on behalf of the defense and then the process the prosecution cross-examined there. >> what did you make of that testimony? >> so hard, right. like you have to take risks as a defense lawyer to win a criminal defense trial, that the odds are stacked against you. and so abbe lowell took a risk and called his daughter and it was riveting and from what everybody says, who is in the courtroom, the jurors were paying very close attention it's a, very sad and tough situation for the daughter to get up there. there were some points made by the

see this 11 juror three in particular, she paged through her notes and she shook her head as abbe lowellas trying to make that point. so erin, look, it's clear that the prosecutors have a lot of evidence it is clearly they have a strong hand to work with here, but it does happen that prosecutors overplay their hands. juries, juries have their own way of dealing with things. and we'll see how this works for that. >> all right. evan, thank you very much. and ryan goodman, outfront legal expert is with me now, so you hear evan he was in the courtroom today, so we heard that audio. you saw the jury's reaction to that. >> so you also heard that him talking about the one juror who was tearing up, right? >> obviously, people have personal connections to issue she's like addiction. >> so how do you think that plays with the jury hearing his own words, reading a book which they could read excerpts are so excerpts, but hearing him i think it can be very powerful. >> so just to take an example of the recent case of manhattan, what the prosecutors they were able to do is actually play an audio of th

it's not about the case, but is defense attorney abbe lowell as evan was referring to, said during is closing closing statement that hallie biden, who was those wife who at one point, as hundred talking about was had dated hunter after beau's death, did something incredibly stupid. that's how abbe lowell put it when she threw out hunter biden's gun and your source, the things you do for love. >> in that instance, is that a good move with this jury? do you think and i guess the context here is they were nodding off during his 90 minute closing all right. so i think he might need to say certain things to try to charge them up and focus back in on him. but that's especially using that kind of language against hallie biden that could come across as a sexes trope to identify her as such. and then the defendant is not somebody who's engaging in stupid but the woman i'm one exactly. and with that many women on the jury, it's not a good move and it's just wave and say something think that they could just say, look, i don't like this. i don't like this defense council. i didn't trust him and p

one of the witnesses saw hunter biden check no but abby lowell put some doubt in their minds.different parts of the form, trying to say there was sloppy paperwork done? if hunter biden takes the stand, it opens him up to prosecution. if he doesn't take the stand shores will get this case probably on monday and we can have a verdict on monday as well. stuart: you broke news all week long. i appreciate it very much. we move from wilmington, delaware, talk a little politics with two of the best of the best. fox news contributor, sean duffy, former distinguished house member. we never put that in and cohost of the fabulous show the bottom line. the election betting odds, put a couple bucks in player. postconviction, trump 53, biden 37. it doesn't look like the house and brag baloney had much impact. >> i trust the betting odds more than i do the polls because you can get a poll to say absolutely anything but when you have your money on the line that's a different thing. who determines the outcome of an election? people. they have a good sense of it. this has backfired massively. b