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For President Joe Biden, the legal troubles of his son appeared to be going away last month when Hunter Biden’s attorneys reached terms with prosecutors to resolve tax evasion and gun charges.
Then the deal fell apart.
Now, with Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing a special counsel Friday to investigate the criminal case, the legal drama over Hunter Biden is poised to hang over the entirety of Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection bid.
Not only does the special counsel designation of David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who has overseen the case for five years, signal a wider probe, the Justice Department also said in a motion Friday it expects a trial over the charges already filed against Hunter Biden. The motion all but ensures a circus of television cameras outside a federal courthouse following the president’s son just as the 2024 campaign will be in full swing.
« This is not good for the president, » said Richard Painter, a law professor at University of Minnesota who served as chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. He argued Republicans will stay fixated on the legal woes of Hunter Biden even more so if former President Donald Trump, the current GOP primary frontrunner, is their nominee.
« Obviously, this is going to be made into a big issue in the campaign, » Painter said. « Given the fact that Trump has been indicted three times and may be indicted a fourth time, the Republicans are going to grab for whatever they can. »How damaging is a special counsel probe for Joe Biden?
A federal judge in Delaware last month refused to accept a plea deal between Hunter Biden and prosecutors after the judge raised concerns about the terms of the agreement including assurance Hunter Biden’s legal team sought for immunity from any future criminal charges.
Had the judge accepted Hunter Biden’s plea agreement, it wasn’t going to quiet Republicans who called the arrangement a « sweetheart deal » and accused Garland of politicizing the Justice Department. But it would have at least put Hunter Biden’s legal ramifications to rest as Joe Biden, 80, seeks a second term while already facing questions about his age and lingering anxieties about the economy.
« It’s not something any candidate would wish to have happen, » said Todd Belt, professor and political management program director at George Washington University.
Still, Belt said voters typically « disentangle » misbehavior of family from the candidate. And he said the appointment of a special counsel − in a possible matchup with Trump − may burnish Joe Biden’s image as the candidate who adheres to the law even when his son is the target.
