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Republican strategists will be hoping that Hunter Biden‘s legal woes could hand GOP candidates some serious political capital in next year’s White House race.
Just moments after the news broke that the First Son had struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors, senior party figures went on the attack.
Joe Biden has been resolute in his support for his eldest son and took him on his official visit to Ireland in April
Hunter even took part in a walkabout in Dundalk, Ireland despite the White House insisting at the time that he would not be involved in any part of the official schedule
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is running to be the Republican nominee, claimed that ‘Americans have lost faith in Biden’s Justice Department.’
In a thinly-veiled swipe at the pursuit of former president Donald Trump, he tweeted: ‘While the Biden family gets a slap on the wrist with kid gloves, (the) DOJ throws the kitchen sink at political opponent.’
The ex-commander-in-chief wrote on his Truth Social platform that the agreement between Hunter Biden and DOJ officials was ‘a full scale election interference scam.’
Trump has long suggested the probe into his handling of classified documents is nothing more than a witch hunt designed to bump him out of the presidential race.
Yet there appears to be precious little evidence that Hunter’s colorful private life will win the GOP any votes in the 2024 election.
A similar tactic was deployed in 2020 when most of the U.S. media decided to ignore a series of embarrassing leaks from his now-infamous laptop.
The Biden campaign orchestrated a push – allegedly by now-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken – to dismiss the emails regarding Hunter’s business dealings as Russian disinformation.
Those claims were breathlessly repeated by left-leaning outlets, who ignored the revelations that were first reported by the New York Post in October 2020.
Its article was even removed by tech giants Twitter and Facebook on the grounds that it contained baseless allegations.
Biden went on to win the 2020 election, angering Republicans who claimed that legacy media and major corporations had conspired to suppress a news story that would have damaged the Democrats.
Top Republican James Comer has been a staunch critic of the Biden family and has vowed to press on with his probe into Hunter’s business dealings
James Comer, the chair of the influential oversight committee in the House of Representatives, argues otherwise.
The Congressman, who represents Kentucky told Fox News on Monday that the investigations had ‘absolutely’ moved the needle on Biden’s poll numbers.
The 50-year-old is leading the congressional probe into Hunter’s lucrative business dealings abroad that allowed him to rake in millions of dollars.
‘There’s no question,’ he said. ‘You look at the polling, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending upward; Joe Biden’s trending downward.
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‘And I believe that the media is looking around, scratching their head, and they’re realizing the American people are keeping up with our investigation.’
Comer provided no evidence for his claim that Hunter’s legal woes had helped the former president pick up pace in the opinion polls.
Those who are angry about the Biden family’s alleged corruption are mainly registered Republicans and the story struggles to gain traction amongst Democrats and independents.
In fact, a survey conducted for NPR at the end of March highlighted the key issues for voters of all political stripes.
Americans have put the economy as the biggest issue facing the country at next year’s election amid two years of inflation under the Biden administration
The poll said 31 percent of voters see it as the top priority.
Other concerns include ‘preserving democracy’ – a view shared by 20 percent of the electorate.
The next two are healthcare (9 percent) and immigration (8 percent).
Allegations surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop do not even feature on the run-down of core concerns.
Lunden Roberts, a former stripper, has reportedly settled her lawsuit with the First Son in a row over child support payments
Hunter took a paternity test in 2020 but he has still never met Navy Joan Roberts, his four-year-old daughter with his former squeeze.
There was a further boost for the 53-year-old earlier on Tuesday when he reportedly settled a long-running legal battle with a former fling.
Lunden Roberts was suing her ex-lover Hunter in a row over unpaid child support.
Under the terms of the deal, the president’s eldest son will reduce his payments from $20,000 a month to $5,000.
That settlement will allow the Joe Biden 2024 campaign to breathe a sign of relief as the stream of negative coverage surrounding the issue may come to an end.
That leaves Comer’s congressional investigation in which Republicans continue to allege Hunter Biden used his seat on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma — for which he was paid substantial sums — to influence his father.
There are also unsubstantiated claims that the commander-in-chief himself took kickbacks.
Whether Americans believe any of this when they go to the ballot box in November next year remains to be seen.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
