President Joe Biden will face the choice of acknowledging his son’s nefarious activities — thereby sacrificing him — or continuing to misdirect as his 2024 presidential campaign heats up, political strategists believe.
Unlike his 2020 campaign, Joe Biden is facing public scrutiny for his son’s alleged business dealings, pornographic tapes found on his abandoned laptop and his treatment of his out-of-wedlock daughter. Revelations about the first son’s activities were largely silenced before the 2020 election, with his abandoned laptop being falsely characterized by former intelligence officials as a Russian plot.
The president has defended his son’s activities and refuses to acknowledge his granddaughter, but if his son is convicted on any charges, it could deal a blow to Biden’s reelection campaign, a Democratic strategist told the Daily Caller.
Hunter being convicted would “hurt” Joe Biden, but not as much as “Trump’s conviction would hurt Trump” given that he’s running for president, said Brad Bannon, Democratic strategist and president of Bannon Communications Research.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently told MSNBC the White House would have to answer for Hunter Biden if an investigation finds that he broke the law. “I think if there is – when there’s a conclusion of the investigation into Hunter, they’ll have to say something,” Psaki said.
Republican 2024 presidential candidates such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have already started to lean into the Hunter Biden allegations. The first son will be center stage leading up into 2024, Ramaswamy and those close to Trump told the Caller.
“The 2024 election should be a referendum on corruption,” Ramaswamy said.
“The Biden family’s corruption will be front and center in the 2024 election. Joe Biden only cares about enriching his family while President Trump is focused on enriching American families,” Alex Pfeiffer and spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc., a Trump Super PAC, told the Daily Caller. Pfeiffer previously worked for the Daily Caller as a White House correspondent.
“The Biden Crime Family is being exposed for their shady dealings and for selling out America to foreign adversaries to enrich themselves. They are a threat to national security,” Trump’s campaign told the Daily Caller.
The Caller granted anonymity to some sources familiar with Trump’s thinking to allow them to speak openly about a sensitive matter.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – APRIL 14: In this handout image provided by the Irish Government, US President Joe Biden departs Dublin Airport on Air Force One with his sister Valerie and son Hunter on April 14, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Julien Behal/Irish Government via Getty Images)
Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn also said that the Hunter Biden issue will not just disappear.
“Hunter Biden has been one headache after another for the Biden administration, and the problem isn’t going away. What deals did Hunter score using his dad’s political connections? Which Biden family members were potentially involved in laundering money? How deep are the Biden family’s ties with Communist China? Americans are tired of the two tiers of justice that have dismissed Hunter Biden’s clear pattern of corruption for too long,” Blackburn told the Caller.
The increased pressure on President Biden’s family comes after the House Oversight Committee alleged Biden’s family attempted to hide more than $10 million in payments from foreign nationals through a web of shell companies opened while Joe Biden was vice president. (RELATED: Biden Family Attempted To Hide More Than $10 Million In Foreign Payments, Republicans Allege)
It would be “foolish” for Trump not to focus on the alleged corruption to “point out the two-tiered justice system,” a GOP consultant close to the Trump campaign told the Caller. “If Trump wasn’t the nominee, I think any Republican would be smart to hammer Biden on the family corruption.”
Debate attacks about Hunter Biden or other members of his family would disarm a “diminished” Joe Biden on the debate stage and would make him come “across in an emotive way,” the consultant close to the Trump campaign said.
“I don’t see him winning a debate with anyone over Hunter Biden,” the consultant added.
Bannon argued Trump “has more to lose” for bringing up corruption than Joe Biden, because unlike the former president, Hunter Biden has not been charged. The American public will care more about the conviction of a presidential candidate than a president’s son, he added.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly considering three tax charges and one gun charge to level against Biden. The FBI and IRS have reportedly closed their investigations into the president’s son.
Joe Biden is facing scrutiny for repeatedly failing to acknowledge his granddaughter’s existence. Hunter Biden is embattled with paternity hearings for his out-of-wedlock daughter Navy Joan Roberts and her mother Lunden Alexis Roberts, a former stripper who lives in Arkansas.
The president has never publicly spoken about Roberts and the White House has refused to comment on the president’s relationship with his granddaughter. (RELATED: ‘I Have Six Grandchildren’: Biden Leaves Out Hunter’s Illegitimate Child While Speaking To Kids At White House)
Bannon told the Caller that the president should own up to his granddaughter’s existence.
“If I was the president, what I would say is, ‘I love her like any other member of my family,'” the Democratic strategist said.
The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Caller.