While most people believe Hunter Biden‘s conviction will have a marginal impact on President Joe Biden‘s reelection chances, it could change how he talks about his predecessor’s criminal history.
The president has embraced the rule of law in the weeks leading up to his son’s conviction, telling ABC News he would not pardon him under his presidential powers and would accept the verdict. Democrats were quick to attack former President Donald Trump as a convicted felon following his case in New York, with Joe Biden doing the same at a campaign rally on June 3, but some suggest that in the wake of Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict, the president may need to pump the brakes on name-calling Trump to avoid Republicans doing the same to his son.
Democratic strategist Basil Smikle told Bloomberg that Republicans “may seize on a guilty verdict and continue to find ways to connect the president to the actions of his son, even though it’s been clear that the president hasn’t been involved such that it would impact his presidency.”
John Malcolm, vice president of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Constitutional Government, said painting Trump as a convicted felon could be undermined by Hunter Biden’s verdict.
“That’s going to blunt the sting of the Trump conviction, although how much I don’t know,” he said.
Still, former Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley told Politico the conviction may have been a “silver lining [the Biden campaign] weren’t looking for” regarding Joe Biden’s respect toward the judicial process.
“You can feel bad for the president, which I definitely do, because I love Joe,” he continued. “But at the same time, you can recognize that he’s upholding the rule of law, and that comes to him at a personal price.”
“This will, of course, be a personal distraction for the president, as it would be for any father,” Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary for first lady Jill Biden during the first two years of the Biden presidency, told BBC. “It’s not a distraction from his duties as president, but I’m sure it will take an emotional toll on the family.”
The president’s acceptance of the conviction may help him by contrasting how Trump has falsely blamed his conviction on political persecution. It may be harder for Republicans to claim that now since the president’s son has also been found guilty of a felony by a jury of his own peers.
“I am the president, but I am also a dad,” Joe Biden said after the conviction before flying to Wilmington, Delaware, to be with his son.