Democrats are using Hunter Biden‘s Tuesday conviction on felony gun charges to counter Republican claims that former President Donald Trump is the victim of a two-tiered system of justice.
But whether that argument resonates with voters in November is not yet clear as perceptions of the two candidates remain largely unchanged despite a series of legal twists and turns in their presidential rematch.
Democrats were quick to claim that Hunter Biden would not have been prosecuted had there been a legal double standard as Republicans call Trump the victim of a coordinated effort to keep him out of the White House. Last month, he was found guilty of falsifying business records in Manhattan court and faces federal prosecutions over Jan. 6 and his handling of classified documents.
The verdict also provided an opportunity for President Joe Biden to contrast himself with the former president. He said he would respect a Delaware jury’s decision to find his son guilty of illegally possessing a gun and lying on a federal form to obtain it.
The verdict is the latest development Democrats have used to challenge Trump’s “lawfare” claims. Despite Trump complaining he could not get a fair trial in New York City, his opponents pointed out that he was found guilty in the hush money case by a jury of his peers.
Taken together, the two verdicts are ammunition Joe Biden can use to counter the narrative that his Justice Department is persecuting him. But Republicans doubt that translates into a meaningful shift in a race with two well-known candidates running on track records from their first terms.
Plus, the party is betting that voter sentiment on the trials is already baked into the electoral cake.
“The Democrats hope that this gives the Justice Department more credibility to make the Trump persecutions more credible,” Republican strategist John Feehery told the Washington Examiner. “That’s why they are cheering this verdict. I doubt it will work.”
Even before the Hunter Biden verdict was announced on Tuesday, Republicans were dismissing the notion that the first son being prosecuted undermines Trump’s claims of political persecution.
“Let’s remember, Hunter Biden would be enjoying his sweetheart deal right now, that the Justice Department negotiated with him, had the judge in the case not posed questions in open court,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters last week, referring to a plea deal Hunter Biden’s lawyers negotiated that subsequently fell apart.
“So, they’ve been backed into this corner now,” he added.
Democrats, for their part, feel that any attempt Trump makes to bring up Hunter Biden will leave him open to counterattacks based on his own legal troubles. Left-leaning voices also like to point out that the younger Biden is not the president, even though some efforts to distance Hunter Biden from his father have failed.
“The easy answer is: ‘I’m sorry, you want to talk about my son being on trial when you were just found guilty in the state of New York?’” Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin previously told the Washington Examiner. “And then you pivot into all of President Trump’s challenges.”
Republicans will have to deal with a second Hunter Biden trial set to begin in September, this one on tax evasion charges in California court. So close to the November election, it will give Democrats another chance to message that Joe Biden’s son is not above the law.
The first round of polls following Trump’s conviction showed him losing only a few voters, while a few even had him gaining ground. It remains to be seen how or if the Hunter Biden verdict will affect the polls.
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Ordinarily, Republicans would relish in the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden. The GOP-led House has been pursuing an impeachment inquiry that rests, in part, on the idea that Hunter Biden and his father were involved in an influence-peddling scheme during his time as vice president, a claim the White House vehemently denies.
But the Trump campaign called the verdict a “distraction” in reacting to the Hunter Biden conviction and pointed to the larger allegations against the Biden family.
