President Joe Biden kept his distance from the courtroom where his son Hunter stood trial on felony gun charges to avoid any appearance of meddling but his quick statement reacting to the jury’s guilty verdict Tuesday spoke to where his heart has been all along.

“Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden wrote. “So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”

After the verdict was announced, the White House cancelled press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s scheduled briefing and announced that Biden would spend the evening in Delaware.

Biden aides and allies have privately worried about the toll a guilty verdict would take on the 81-year-old president, for whom personal loss has been closely intertwined with his public life. They say the president is less worried about any personal political cost he might incur than concerned as a father for a son who is only a few years removed from the throes of severe drug addiction.

The verdict came shortly before the President was scheduled to give a speech on his administration’s efforts to limit gun violence and toughen enforcement of gun laws at a conference hosted by the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund in Washington.

From there, Biden is travelling to his Delaware home on Tuesday afternoon, where he was expected to gather with his family, including Hunter, before departing for Italy on Wednesday morning to attend the G7 summit. Biden spent more time than usual in Wilmington while the trial was underway, part of a family show of support for Hunter.

First Lady Jill Biden was in the courtroom nearly every day — and made a 24-hour commute back from France to be there on Friday — but she just missed being there when the verdict came down.