Hunter Biden’s legal story has been one of the most contentious issues in the West Wing for quite some time, but it now appears destined to play out during his father’s reelection campaign. This has frustrated the president, but so far it has caused little serious anxiety among his advisers.
Both the investigation into Hunter Biden and the investigation into his father’s handling of secret documents after he left the Senate and the vice president’s office are likely to go on for months.
Some of Biden’s supporters have admitted that these issues could make it more difficult for the president to run on his record of moral leadership in his bid for reelection. Unlike the president’s most likely Republican competitor, Hunter Biden is not running for president, and the White House has made every effort to stay out of the matter.
Both probes are looking into separate cases with different outcomes. Aides to President Biden believe that he may be examined as part of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s documents investigation, despite the fact that he has not been a part of Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation against his son.
However, both probes remove the White House’s most basic source of control as the election season approaches. In private conversations last week, numerous Biden advisors acknowledged that special counsels often find evidence they weren’t looking for. People close to Biden believe the fact that it’s a sensitive family situation adds an extra layer of stress that no other challenge to the presidency has caused.
It is unclear how or if these issues will affect Biden’s reelection prospects. Biden’s situation is very different from that of a potential opponent who has been charged four times. According to Democratic party strategists, swing voters are more worried with the economy than they are with Hunter Biden, who they regard as a private citizen.
Based on the information at hand, these voters reportedly do not hold President Biden accountable for any misconduct. Biden’s advisors acknowledge the subject is generally taboo with the president, which may leave them vulnerable in a vicious campaign when their Republican opponents will spare no topic.
The senior official stated, “Hunter Biden is not a topic of discussion in campaign meetings,” under the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The issue “is simply ignored.”
The fact that Trump’s former appointee, Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced last week that he was promoting Weiss to the position of special counsel shows how far apart the White House and the Justice Department are on this issue. Biden’s supporters this week expressed emotions ranging from resignation to frustration at the choice.
The president sees the appointment of a special counsel as the closing of yet another chapter in his presidency. As the president and first lady strive to put the tragedy of their son’s addiction in the past, Republicans and the Justice Department are stretching their investigation into the family into the indefinite future.
Two weeks ago, the president’s wife believed that Hunter Biden’s expected plea deal would be an opportunity to confess fault and move on.
However, the plea deal fell through, and the appointment of a special counsel ushers in a new phase of the legal proceedings, which may include a trial.
The Bidens have taken a hands-off attitude to the inquiry into their son Hunter Biden, instead opting to focus on their love and support for their son and their relationship with him. Hunter Biden has been kept close by his family and the White House throughout the judicial proceedings, with the latter attending a fancy state banquet only days after his original plea agreement was disclosed.
While there has been progress towards a plea deal on tax and gun related charges, a child support dispute has been resolved, and President Biden has not been directly implicated in any wrongdoing, those close to the president are beginning to wonder why this issue persists at all.
They place much of the blame on Republicans, who have been criticised by the White House this week for conducting investigations of President Biden that have lasted for years but yielded no evidence of misconduct on his part.
It’s important to remember that the Republican Party in Congress has been making these same accusations against the president for years. According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “they have been investigating every angle of this and looking for any evidence to back their allegations” for months, if not years. “And if you ask yourself, ‘What have we seen as a result of that?'” They keep finding evidence and witnesses that disprove the president’s involvement.
Some Democrats are beginning to privately doubt the efficacy of Hunter Biden’s legal team and the prudence of Hunter’s public presence around his father.
Because he could be called as a witness in future trials, Hunter Biden’s main criminal defence attorney sought a federal judge on Tuesday for permission to withdraw from the case. Some of Biden’s advisors were already worried about Hunter’s legal team, and the sudden collapse of the plea arrangement just made them more concerned.
I’m sure this didn’t go over too well with the White House, who would probably like to put the Hunter Biden scandal to rest. “The Republicans are sort of pointing to it for purposes of what-about-ism,” said David Axelrod, a senior strategist in the Obama White House and an AWN senior political pundit, who said Republicans were ready to make false comparisons, essentially saying, “what about” Hunter’s legal difficulties.
He explained that the opposition needed a rebuttal, and that the claim that “Oh two standards of justice, they’re not indicting Hunter Biden” was their best bet. And they’re pounding that horse to death, despite not having evidence to support their claimed link between Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. Joe Biden probably wouldn’t take too kindly to any development in the Hunter Biden case that pushes it into the next election year.
Indeed, Republicans in Congress and presidential candidates are increasingly bringing up Hunter Biden’s conduct as evidence of a false equivalency within the Justice Department.
Republicans have called the now-defunct plea agreement between Hunter Biden and federal prosecutors a “sweetheart deal,” and they mocked the nomination of Weiss as special counsel, despite the fact that many Republicans had previously supported the appointment of a special counsel.
Some of the president’s possible Republican challengers have also spoken out against the appointment of a special counsel. Hunter Biden, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, would be given the “soft glove treatment.” A spokesperson for ex-President Donald Trump claimed the Biden family has “been protected by the Justice Department for decades,” despite the fact that Trump appointed Weiss and Biden retained him in his position.
The topic will almost certainly come up at next week’s first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee. The Democratic National Committee has indicated that they want to push back on a number of issues, including Hunter Biden.
The 2020 general election debates with Trump were similarly planned, with Trump seizing on Hunter Biden as an attack line. During the course of that year’s debate circuit, Biden’s defence of his son and pride in his sobriety stood out as one of the most compelling moments.
Dr. Jill Biden, the Vice President and First Lady, recently told AWN that the probes into their son Hunter did not factor into their choice to run for reelection this year.
Democrats see this as a chance to show that they believe in a fair legal system, in contrast to the many Republicans who have expressed outrage about Trump’s multiple charges.
Beyond the tax issue and the gun issue, Hunter may have committed other wrongdoing that merits further investigation. “No one is above the law,” said Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz. That’s why no Democrats are complaining that the Justice Department is being used as a weapon. No. We’re always on the same page. When we say nobody is immune from justice when it comes to Donald Trump, we don’t play around; not even members of his own family.
