ryan nobles leading us off tonight. >>> and while president biden's son was in court his political rival, donald trump, sat down for an interview today with a probation officer ahead of his sentencing. laura jarrett joins us live now on set. so laura, you're getting details about the meeting with the former president? >> yes, tom. typically this type of interview is done in person. but this one was done virtually with mr. trump accompanied by his attorney. a source familiar with the matter describing it as brief, lasting less than 30 minutes. now, the former president was convicted last month of falsifying his business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star. he now faces four years in prison or just probation. typically, someone would be asked about finances, family and other factors that might support a lighter sentence. that all goes in a report. just one piece of what the judge will

. >> ryan nobles tonight, thank you. >>> also developing, a major headline in the georgia election interference case against former president trump. hallie jackson joins us now. hallie, an appeals court stepping in here today. >> reporter: that's right. they're pressing pause on the case altogether until a panel of judges decides whether the fulton county district attorney fani willis can continue prosecuting this. they argued she should be disqualified because of a conflict of interest which willis denies over a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to handle the case. here's the most immediate impact, the time line, there is no possible way it would get to a trial now before november's election so that is perhaps a political win, if not a legal one yet, for mr. trump, lester. >> hallie, we're also learning more about mr. trump's search for a running mate. what do we know? >> reporter: it's picking up steam with some getting vetting materials according to five people familiar with the process. two sources say ohio senator j.d. vance, north dakota governor doug burgum and florida sen

. >> ryan nobles, thank you. >>> also tonight former president trump slamming his sentencing date set by a judge for just days before the republican convention as the biden campaign accused him of calling for violence if he's sentenced to jail. here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: tonight former president trump is blasting his sentencing date in july just days before the republican national convention. >> that's part of the game. >> reporter: and saying he was initially surprised by last week's guilty verdict. >> it was weird because we go in, and the judge -- it looked like it was a hung jury for a while. >> reporter: the new comments out today as the former president has seen a flood of campaign donations following his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to stormy daniels. he now says he plans to appeal, posting "the supreme court must decide," and he was asked about revenge. >> revenge will be success -- i mean that. but it's awfully hard when you see what they've done. >> reporter: and the potential for prison time. >> i'm okay with

our ryan nobles is at the courthouse in delaware and starts us off tonight. >> reporter: tonight, it's in the hands of the jury. six men and six women now deliberating the fate of hunter biden, the first child of a sitting american president to be charged with a crime. many members of the first family in the courtroom throughout the trial. "all of this is not evidence," said u.s. attorney leo wise in his closing statement while gesturing around the courtroom and in the direction of first lady jill biden in the first row. "people sitting in the gallery are not evidence," he said, adding "no one is above the law." the special counsel's accused the president's son of lying on a federal background check by checking a box claiming he was not an active drug user in order to purchase a gun. prosecutors used evidence from hunter's laptop and also called ten witnesses, many describing hunter biden's frequent drug use including around the time he filled out that background check in october of 2018. hunter biden's ex-wife testified she found drug paraphernalia inside his car in october of 2018. a

let's begin with nbc's ryan nobles. he's at the courthouse right there in wilmington, delaware. od morning. >> reporter: hoda, good morning. and hunter biden's fate is now in the hands of six men and six women. they will decide if he was lying on a federal background check before purchasing a gun. it comes after days of grueling and often embarrassing testimony with close members of his family in the courtroom. the arguments are over. the evidence presented. and now hunter biden's future will be decided by 12 people he had met before. the government accused the president's son of lying on a form, checking the box that he was not an active drug user in order to purchase a gun. hunter biden pled not guilty to the charges. the u.s. attorney summing up the government's case by arguing it goes beyond a reasonable doubt to assume hunter was using drugs based on the evidence they presented. the evidence was personal, ugly and overwhelming. it was also absolutely necessary. weiss pointing to the gallery filled with close members of the biden family, including first lady jill biden. and r

ryan nobles is covering the trial. >> reporter: tonight for the first time in american history, the child of a sitting president is facing a criminal trial, and now the 12-member jury is set. six men and six women, including six jurors who own guns themselves or have family members that purchased them recently. hunter biden, accused of lying on a federal form in 2018 to purchase a gun, checking a box saying he was not an active drug user. despite acknowledging in his book he was addicted to crack-cocaine at the time. first lady jill biden making a surprise appearance, sitting just a few feet behind her son in court. and the president offering his support saying, "as the president, i don't and won't comment on pending federal cases, but as a dad i have boundless love for my son." president biden spending memorial day weekend with hunter, and recently inviting him to state dinners and defending him publicly. >> first of all, my son's done nothing wrong. i trust him. i have faith in him. >> reporter: but his son's legal battles likely to take a political toll on the president in the midst of

>> ryan nobles, thanks. more on the verdict we're joined by senior legal correspondent laura jarrett. laura, what is the most likely sentence we could see? in this case? . >> lester, the sentencing is still roughly four months off at this point, so both sides will have a chance to present their arguments. but realistically, the judge is likely to give him a sentence significantly shorter than that maximum because he is a first-time offend were no criminal history, lester. >> and he faces another trial as well? >> he does. and that one is set to start in september. he pleaded not guilty to charges of tax evasion in california where prosecutors say he failed to pay taxes on millions in foreign income, instead spending that money on drugs, hotels, cars. now his attorneys argue he ultimately repaid those tax, but if convicted there, he faces even more time, up to 17 years in prison. and in that case, because of his conviction today, he would have a criminal history, that that judge must consider. lester? >> all

joining us from outside the wilmington, delaware, courthouse is nbc news correspondent ryan nobles, lisa rubin has stuck around as well. so, ryan, walk us through the arguments. what is the prosecution trying to rebut from the defense right now? >> well, what the prosecution is attempting to do right now is tamp down abbe lowell, the defense attorney's claims that there is reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case, and this has been abbe lowell's insistence, while the prosecution has provided a bevy of evidence, hunter biden had a long-term drug abuse problem that spanned over a four-year period, that the only really period of time that matters is that month of october, and even specifically when you drill down to it, that moment he checked the box where he said no, he was not an active drug user, in order to obtain and purchase a weapon. 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 instea

ryan nobles, thank you. major developments today in the legal saga of julian assange and a surprise move, the wikileaks founder agreed to a plea deal with the united states that will secure his freedom in exchange for pleading guilty to an espionage charge. assange is now out of a british prison where he spent the last five years. he's now heading to a remote pacific island controlled by the united states. to enter his plea. in 2010, wikileaks, with assange as its leader, published a trove of nearly half a million pieces of classified documents and materials. nbc news international correspondent josh letterman joins us now with more. so, josh. assange had been in this british prison, belmarsh, which is kind of like the rikers of london, if you will, a massive prison since april of 2019, fighting extradition. before that, he'd spent all this time holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london . talk to us about what is in this deal and how we expect it to play out. yeah, this is a pretty surprising turn of even

joining us now, ryan nobles. so ryan, what sort of questions is he getting?reporter: well, within of the big things that senators are looking for is accountability. why did this happen and what are you going to do to fix it. and while calhoun has promised to do that, he hasn't provided perhaps the specifics that many of the senators are looking for. and some of the senators are even specifically asking why he is still in this job. calhoun has said that he will retire at the end of the year, but he is still in charge of the operation and some of the senators believe he should go right now. listen to what senator josh hawley pressed him on today. >> it is a lot of this and it is this and that. but meanwhile you're getting paid a heck of a lot of money. it is unbelievable. if anyone is coming out of this deal good, it is you. why haven't you resigned? >> i'm sticking this through. i'm proud of having taken the job and proud of our -- >> proud of this record. you're proud of there safety record? >> i'm proud of the boeing people. >> you're proud of this safety re

ryan nobles joins us from the white house. ryan, what exactly has happened? >> well, we're trying to get clarity because hunter biden's legal team did appear to file a motion for a new trial based on jurisdictional questions, but that particular piece, that motion, that legal filing has now subsequently been removed from the court's website and said it was placed there in error. we're trying to figure out if there was something not necessarily complete with the document. that it went up earlier than his legal team wanted it to. but we at least get a sense of what his team is arguing and what they're hoping, which would essentially be a hail mary attempt to get a new trial. they're suggesting an appeals court, who the legal team had gone to asking for this case to be thrown out before it got to trial, answered a number of questions related to the case, but didn't answer a third question related to the case. basically left that question open. and therefore, the court in which this case tried this case did not have the proper jurisdiction to impanel a jury and m

joining us from wilmington, delaware is nbc news correspondent ryan nobles. ersonal, ryan. it's super embarrassing. super ugly just in terms of the airing of dirty laundry of the biden family. does the biden team see this as -- do they see this as backfiring and making -- and just making the public more sympathetic to hunter bideen? >> reporter: i think at this point it depends, katy, if you're having a legal conversation or a political conversation. and right now the only people that hunter biden cares about right now are those 12 jurors who had to listen in great and painful detail as basically hunter biden became a star witness for the prosecution while reading his audio book. and you're right, at times it was painful, it was difficult to listen to. the first lady jill biden was only two rows in front of me in the courtroom with ashley biden next to her and melissa cohen-biden, who is hunter biden's wife, next to her on the other side. at times they were embracing. you could tell that it was difficult for them to listen to. but what the prosecution is attem

joining us now nbc news correspondent ryan nobles in wilmington, delaware. to have a widow talk about the grief of her husband's deaths, what she ended up going through and the deaths that she went through along with beau's brother, hunter. >> reporter: you're exactly right, katy, and i do think that this was a difficult day in court for everyone involved. you could tell that both the prosecution and the defense team in many ways were uncomfortable asking hallie biden these very personal questions about that experience, but to her credit she was very poised throughout the entire question and answer period and the reason that she is such a crucial witness to this case, perhaps the most important witness, is because she was there during this period of time in question and it was that week or two around the time that hunter biden purchased this gun, remember, he is accused of checking no on a federal form claiming that he wasn'ter biden purchased this gun. he was accused of checking no on a federal form saying he wasn't a drug user that allowed him to purchase

. >>> joining us now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles.ty cryptic news release a something bad wa happen. what is he talking about today? why is he so much more worried than we have heard from other officials. >> reporter: let's point out what the chairman has accomplished, and that's to get the administration confirm there's this issue or a concern about the russians launching some sort of satellite that could disable other satellites being used by countries, military organizations, and the like all around the world. and that he believes the administration needs to do something now to prevent that from happening. there's a disagreement in the interpretation of how imnebt the threat maybe. it's not something that's going to happen tomorrow, but he still believes they need to do more. they could sanction russia, prevent rush kwa from working with companies that could help them to develop this content and this type of technology, all of these things he thinks should be on the table. buts it's pretty clear that turner, who sounded the alarm b

joining us now, nbc news correspondent ryan nobles. defense didn't call anybody else today. what happened? >> reporter: well, it was a pretty powerful day in the courtroom, katy, and naomi biden had a very specific goal, and that goal was to try to convince the jury that in the month of october of 2018 that she viewed her father as on the road to recovery, that she had just met with him a couple of months before while he was in a treatment facility in los angeles, that she felt good about the direction that he was headed. and that there at least would be a reasonable expectation or at least reasonable doubt for this jury to believe that when he checked the box on the form to buy the gun, he believed he was no longer an addict. i have to tell you, the prosecution did a pretty good job of throwing the narrative off. they asked naomi biden questions about the interactions she had with her father during that period of time, including a period of time where she was in new york with her now husband, peter neil, and they were swapping out veh

joining us is nbc news correspondent, ryan nobles who's in wilmington, delaware, for us.today? >> reporter: well, what we see playing out here, katy, is the prosecution is attempting to establish the fact that hunter biden was in a cycle of addiction for more than four years, and within that four-year period was that period of time where he checked a box on a federal form that allowed him to purchase a gun that said he was not an active drug user. what the defense did is trying to rebut is it's impossible to get into his state of mind when he checked that box, and that he very well could have believed he was in a period of recovery when he went to buy that gun and therefore was not in violation of the law. but bringing out these witnesses, these people with intimate knowledge of what his past was like during that period of time, his ex-wife who first found a crack pipe in their house. that's how she discovered his drug use, and the girlfriend, where she witnessed him over and over again, smoking crack, buying drugs. at times, he would smoke crack every 20 minutes. they're

here's ryan nobles. >> reporter: for the first time in american history, the child of a sitting president is facing a criminal trial. and now the 12-member jury is set. six men and six women, including six jurors who own guns themselves or who have family members that purchased them recently. hunter biden, accused of lying on a federal form in 2018 to purchase a gun, checking a box saying he was not an active drug user, despite acknowledging in his book he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time. first lady jill biden making a surprise appearance, sitting just a few feet behind her son in court. and the president offering his support, saying, as the president, i don't and won't comment on pending federal cases, but, as a dad, i have boundles bo boundless love for my son. president biden spending memorial day weekend with his son and inviting him to state dinners. >> first of all, my son has done nothing wrong. i trust in him. >> reporter: hunter's original plea bargain was blasted by republicans as a sweetheart deal and fell apart under a judge's scrutiny. special prosecutor david weiss

ryan nobles was at the courthouse for the closing arguments. >> reporter: it's in the hands of the jury. six men and six women out deliberating the fate of hunter biden, the first child of a sitting american president to be charged with a crime. many members of the first family in the courtroom throughout the trial. all of this is not evidence, says u.s. attorney leo wise in his statement. people sitting in the gallery are not evidence, he said, adding no one is above the law. the special counsel's accused the president's son of lying on a federae drug user while trying to buy a gun. the prosecution called ten witnesses, many testifying about his drug use, including around the time he filled out that background check. hunter biden's ex-wife testified she found drug paraphernalia inside his car in october of 2018. and his ex-girlfriend who was dating him at the same time saying he was smoking crack every 20 minutes or so. defense attorney abbe lowell argued the prosecution focussed far too much on his drug abuse over a four-year period, and saying no one witnessed actual drug use during

ryan nobles is there for us tonight. >> reporter: tonight, hunter biden fighting back tears as his eldest daughter, naomi, testified in his defense saying in august 2018 she considered her father to be on the road to recovery from his drug addiction. it was the clearest i'd seen him since my uncle died. he seemed really great, she said. it was two months before hunter filled out that government background check to purchase a gun checking "no" on the form that asked if he was an active drug user. naomi testifying she introduced her dad to her future husband. i told him, i was so proud of him, she said, but on cross-examination, prosecutor leo wise pressed naomi about meeting her father a few days after he bought the gun pointing to their text messages showing the two were having a difficult time meeting up after she borrowed his truck. highlighting a text where hunter asked her to meet him with the truck at 2:00 a.m. naomi texting the following day, i'm really sorry, dad. i can't take this. i don't know what to say. i just miss you and want to hang out with you. following her testimony, na

ryan nobles has late details. >> reporter: tonight, the prosecution kicking off their case against the son of the president with one simple message to the jury, no one is above the law. in opening arguments, prosecutor derek heinz saying hunter biden was a user of crack and a drug addict. he chose to lie on a government form about his drug use when he purchased a .38 caliber handgun. no one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even hunter biden, he said. heinz pointing to the defendant's own words in his own voice. >> mainly, however, we just planted ourselves on the couch and smoked a ton of crack. >> reporter: heinz playing these audio clips from hunter biden's memoir for the jury. >> by now, i possessed a new superpower, the ability to find crack in any town, at any time, no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. >> reporter: first lady jill biden, his wife melissa and sister ashley were in court, sitting together while the excerpts played. visibly shaken and embracing each other. hunter biden is charged with three counts related to allegedly purchasing and possessing a gun wh

ryan nobles is at the courthouse. >> reporter: tonight, the prosecution in hunter biden's federal criminal gun trial calling hallie biden, the widow of hunter's brother beau, who hunter had a romantic relationship after his brother died. hallie biden testifying she found the gun hunter purchased, the one prosecutors allege he bought after lying on a background check claiming he is not an active bringing user. prosecutors showing this video of hallie biden tossing the gun in the trash outside a grocery store. she told the jury i didn't want him to hurt himself or my kids to find it and hurt themselves. adding i realize it was a stupid idea now, but i was just panicking. and testifying about the drug use, "he would be agitated, high-strung," she said. saying she saw him with crack rocks the size of ping-pong balls, adding that hunter introduced her to crack. it was a terrible experience that i went through, and i'm embarrassed and ashamed of that period of my life. prosecutors saying that hunter was still using drugs just days after filling out the background check. showing a text message fr

ryan nobles joins us from wilmington, delaware. hey, ryan. good morning. >> reporter: hoda, good morning. hallie biden's testimony was heart-breaking at times. she accused the president's son of introducing her to crack and said she thought he was meeting drug dealers and using drugs at the time he bought the gun. hallie biden, the widow of hunter biden's late brother beau relationship for him at a time received his crack use was at one point a constant presence in her life and led to her trying the drug as well. i'm embarrassed and ashamed of that period of my life. prosecutors are attempting to prove that hunter lied on a federal form. hunter biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges. hallie capturing the attention of the jury, outlining her relationship with hunter, saying she would sometimes accompany him to buy drugs and saying she saw hunter with crack balls the size of ping-pong balls. hallie seen her in this surveillance video played in court found the gun in hunter's truck and then drove it to a nearby grocery store to throw it awa

ryan nobles joins us from washington with the very latest. lty verdict means the president's son is facing prison time. but the judge is yet to set a sentencing date. president biden met with his son in wilmington shortly after the verdict was read. he also released a statement saying he was proud of the man that hunter has become and said, quote, i accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as hunter considers an appeal. and hunter's legal team has said they do plan to appeal this case. inside the jury room, one juror told me the panel was split 6-6, but quickly moved to deliberations yesterday morning. david weiss, a special council over seeing this said politics played no role in their prosecution. instead, this was about hunter biden and his choices. his legal troubles are not over. he faces a criminal trial for tax evasion that is set to begin in . >> johnson & johnson will pay $700 million in a nationwide settlement over allegations that it misled customers about the safety of its at all come-based

ryan nobles for us there in wilmington. , thank you. >>> also this morning, new questions are being raised about a possible cease-fire in the israel-hamas war while the white house pushes for a deal to get done. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is once again saying the war will not end unless hamas is destroyed. nbc's raf sanchez is in tel aviv for us. raf, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. president biden and his top aides are making this push for a hostage deal a top priority. we're expecting the administration to hold a series of key meetings throughout the day, including on a new resolution at the u.n. security council. but for now, while all of this is happening, intense bombing in gaza continues. this morning israeli attacks on gaza showing no sign of letting up. air strikes leveling buildings in the center of the strip and fires raging, even as the white house intensifies its push to finally end the war and bring the hostages home. the president speaking to the leader of qatar. urging her to

>> ryan nobles for us there in delaware. ryan, thank you. >>> let's switch gears and go to the nba finals. boston taking game two after stopping an exciting run. the mavs led with a chance to cut the lead to three. just a minute to go, and then this happened. >> here's irving. washington drives. blocked by white. oh, what a block from derek white. >> after that block, the celtics jaylen brown drove down the middle, banked a layup. he sealed the win. final score there 105-98. boston now two wins from the title. game three wednesday night in dallas. >> how exciting. >> you are being proven right again. >> with that boston squad, it's hard. >> it was close there for a while. >> for a while. >>> all right. let's get a check of the weather. mr. roker is standing by. >> well, we have hot weather to talk about again. good morning, everybody. out in california to the southwest, 18 million people under heat advisories, heat watches, warnings. look at the triple digits. redding into salt lake into the midpart of the week. phoenix will

nbc's ryan nobles is at the courthouse in wilmington, delaware, ryan, morning. >> reporter: hoda, goodning hunter biden entered this courthouse behind me just a few minutes ago, and also joining him, the first lady jill biden. we also have a comment from the president of the united states who said that he won't comment on a federal case, but he has boundless love for his son. this is not the position hunter biden expected to find himself in, the embattled son of the sitting president, very public about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, now facing the legal fight of his life, a fight that could end with possible jail time. the first son is accused of lying on a form to obtain a firearm, he checked a box in 2018 that claimed he was not an active user of a controlled substance. biden has pleaded not guilty of the charges. hunter wrote extensively about his struggles with substance abuse during that same period of time. prosecutors have signalled they plan to use hunter's own words against him from his memoir beautiful things, overnight the judge granting two prosecution requests, incl

but we also have nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ryan noble, joining us as well. , one of the big things that came out of this in the beginning was that senator blumenthal thinks there should be a doj investigation into boeing. >> reporter: yeah, i think that was significant. and senator blumenthal has been one of the biggest critics of boeing over the past couple of years and what he believes is a lack of transparency from inside the company in terms of the way they're conducting business. and you know, one of the other major things that's going to come out of this hearing today is yet another whistleblower coming forward with real concerns of not only boeing using outdated or not up to code parts for some of the manufacturing of their planes, but also covering up the fact they were using the wrong parts in some of this construction. that speaks to a bigger problem of that there isn't the right level of accountability and the right level of tracking as to the way these planes are constructed before they leave the line. obviously, there are safety standards that go

nbc's ryan nobles is covering the case for us, joins us once again from that courthouse in wilmington, delaware. ryan, good morning. >> reporter: craig, good morning. and at the core of this case, did hunter biden know he was an active drug user when he checked a box on a federal form before purchasing a gun? prosecutors are calling a series of witnesses with intimate knowledge of his behavior at the time and they say they could wrap up their case as soon as today. federal prosecutors spent wednesday building the case that hunter biden spent four years in a cycle of drug abuse. a window of time that includes the day he checked no on a box of a federal form saying he was not an active drug user in order to purchase a gun. biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges. he used cash for a lot of things, a good amount of it was for drugs, said zoe, a woman hunter met at a strip club in new york. the pair launched a relationship filled with drugs and alcohol. she testifying at one point that hunter was, quote, smoking crack every 20 minutes or so. also on the stand, hunter biden's ex-wife. s

here is ryan nobles with more. >> reporter: tonight, it's in the hands of the jury. six men and six women deliberating the fate of hunter biden, the first child of a sitting american president to be charged with a crime. many members of the first family in the courtroom throughout the trial. all of this is not evidence. gesturing around the courtroom and in the direction of first lady jill biden in the first row. people sitting in the gallery are not evidence he said adding no one is above the law. the special counsel's office use the president's son of lying on a federal back on check by checking the box claiming he was not an active drug user to purchase a gun. prosecutors used evidence from his laptop and called 10 witnesses, many describing hunter biden's frequent drug use including around the time he filled out the background check in october 2018. hunter biden's ex-wife testified she found drug paraphernalia inside his car in october 2018. his ex-girlfriend who was dating him at the same time singing hunter was smoking crack every 20 minutes or so. the evidence

ryan nobles has been following the hearing from the hill. >> reporter: one of the things that's reallythe course of hearing, lawmakers aren't just concerned with the fact that boeing has made mistakes they're also very concerned that they may be attempting to cover those mistakes up and they believe admitting mistakes and fixing and being accountable is very important. boeing may be trying to suppress the testimony or the release of information from whistle blowers, listen to this exchange between senator blummenthal and david calhoun. >> how many have been fired. >> i'd be happy to follow up and get you that answer. >> reporter: sometimes whistle-blowers have been punished for coming forward and telling their story. ellison, this comes at a time when boeing is facing serious questions about leadership in the future. ellison. >> other than asking questions, holding people accountable, what else can congress do when it comes to this? >> it's a private company, unlike many private company that come before congress, boeing works with the federal government, the federal government is one o

that juror, number 10, spoke to ryan nobles about hunter's sentencing. >> honestly, i don't think puttingter in jail is going to help anybody. i hope that hunter is clean and i hope that his sobriety is going well. >> another female juror tells "usa today" that the trial was a waste of taxpayer dollars. she didn't want to convict because, in her words, hunter needed help. after the verdict, the special counsel argued his team prosecuted without any political pressure. >> no one in this country is above the law. everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant. >> that's the special prosecuor who was appointed by former president trump as a u.s. attorney. joining me is paul charlton. the judge did not set a sentencing date but said -- we should note it happens four months after a verdict like this, which could put it in the middle of the next trial of the urgent period of time where joe biden is running for re-election and hunter biden is in the middle of another trial. how steep could hunter's punishment be and how likely do you think he is to succeed in an appeal? >> t

here is my colleague ryan nobles with more. >> reporter: tonight president biden arriving in delaware, hugging his son on the tarmac after hunter biden became the first child of a sitting president found guilty in a criminal trial. >> no one in this country is above the law. >> reporter: it took three hours of deliberations for 12 jurors to unanimously determine hunter biden guilty of three felony counts. for lying about his drug use on a federal background check to buy a gun. special counsel david weiss, who oversaw the prosecution, saying this is not a case about hunter's struggles with crack, but his decision to break the law. >>'s choice to lie on a government form when he bought a gun and then to possess that gun. it was these choices and the combination of guns and drugs that made his conduct dangerous. >> reporter: inside the courtroom, the president's 54- year-old son did not react as the verdict was read. he left the courthouse holding the hand of the first lady, later releasing a statement saying i am more grateful today for the love and support i experienced this last week

she is the widow of his brother beau. >> ryan nobles reporting there.far more personal than republican. republicans have for years tried to make hunter biden a major issue and poll after poll after poll shows americans simply don't care. americans are sympathetic to the bidens because so many of them have struggles with addiction so they understand the president's love for his son. lindsey graham said yesterday that he believes like america, because hunter biden faces tax charges later in the year in california and he says i think any average american who's done their taxes like hunter biden would have probably faced prosecution, talking about the california case. however, i don't think the average american would have been charged with the gun thing. i don't see any good coming from that. so a moment of humanity there from the senator. that's hunter biden's argument. he feels like he is being prosecuted because of his last name. his father feels guilt, thinks his political career shown a spotlight on hunter biden which led to the trial. aides worry. he

ryan nobles is at the courthouse for us in delaware.d morning. >> reporter: craig, good morning to you. it could be another difficult day for the biden family in the courtroom has hunter biden's ex-wife is expected to be called to the witness stand. his testimony comes after yesterday when the president's own voice served as a witness to the prosecution. prosecutors pitted hunter biden against himself. >> by now i possessed a new super power, the ability to find crack in any town in any time no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. >> reporter: they pulled excerpts of his book where the president's son details his painful battle with addiction. >> i know moment to moment -- >> they argue that in the book biden himself described a four-year period of his life where he was plagued by addiction. hunter is accused of lying on a government form. maybe he wasn't an active drug user before purchasing a weapons. biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges. prosecutor derek hynes telling the jury we would not be here if you were just a drug addict.