The Memo: Hunter Biden’s headlines create political bind for president

The tale of Hunter Biden took yet another strange turn Wednesday, when a district judge in Delaware unexpectedly balked at approving a plea deal.

In a day marred by chaos and confusion, the deal — which would have seen President Biden’s son avoid jail time on two misdemeanor tax charges and also enter a diversion agreement related to a gun charge — ended up in serious doubt.

The two sides will have to come before the judge again at a future date in the hope of convincing her they have resolved a number of outstanding issues.

From the political standpoint, the mess ensures that Hunter Biden will remain in the headlines relating to those charges, even while he is also the focus of broader GOP-led investigations.

That’s bad news for his father — though the GOP’s strategy carries risks of its own too.

In practical terms, any day when Hunter Biden is at the center of the action is a day when his father is deprived of space and time for his preferred topics, such as his record on the economy and infrastructure.

The investigation of the younger Biden is itself coming under increased scrutiny, in part because of testimony from two IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. 

In short, Shapley and Ziegler argue that the investigation was soft-pedaled for reasons of political sensitivity — even though lead prosecutor David Weiss, who was appointed by former President Trump, has pushed back against the central allegation that he was blocked by higher-ups at the Department of Justice from pursuing more serious charges.

Further testimony, this time behind closed doors, is expected Monday from a former business associate of Hunter Biden’s, Devon Archer.

Archer is far from the perfect witness, having been convicted and sentenced to jail in a fraud case relating to bonds issued by a Native American tribe. 

Still, according to the New York Post, Archer is expected to testify about occasions when Hunter Biden put his father on the phone in the company of business contacts. Biden was serving as vice president to President Obama during at least some of those calls.

There are nuances even in Archer’s testimony, which the Post suggested will acknowledge that, in about three-quarters of those calls, Hunter simply put his father on speakerphone without informing him other people were listening in.

On occasions when the elder Biden did know others were with his son, even Archer is believed to be willing to testify only to an exchange of “vague pleasantries.”

All of that being said, even the undisputed details regarding Hunter Biden are problematic. 

The mere fact that he was paid tens of thousands of dollars per month over several years by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma — with no seemingly relevant expertise or assets other than his last name — raises unavoidable questions.

So far, the White House is counting on this not affecting the image of his father, who ran for the Oval Office promising to “restore the soul of America” after the tumult of the Trump years.

Matt Mackowiak, the chairman of the Travis County, Texas, Republican Party said he found some of the attention paid to Hunter’s personal problems “mean-spirited.” 

But, he added: “In politics, it’s real simple — you’re either on offense or on defense. One of the challenges for the Biden team is, they have described the president in terms of being the adult in charge, having integrity and so on. But these allegations are pretty serious, and you don’t pay Hunter Biden $5 million or $10 million without believing you are getting something in return. So what did they get?”

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that “nothing has changed” after a comment she made the previous day that noted President Biden was “never in business” with his son. 

That phrasing seemed subtly different from earlier assertions that the president had “never spoken” to his son about the latter’s business dealings.

“It’s a major distraction for the White House to have to manage,” said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean, speaking of Hunter-related issues in general. “Instead of really talking about what they would rather discuss, they are going to have to play defense on Hunter Biden matters.”

Democrats insist that the politics of the issue are not quite so simple, however.

They contend that the Republican focus on the younger Biden could seem both vindictive and disconnected from the concerns of vital voters in the political center-ground.

Democrats argue that talk of impeachment, currently being given some oxygen by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), could easily backfire on the GOP — as could a chain of seemingly never-ending hearings.

“The Republicans are overplaying their hand,” said Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator in South Carolina and longtime Biden ally. “They are trying to distract from the myriad of legal problems their presumptive nominee [Trump] has. And it really is beneath Congress to do what they are doing. It’s just contemptible.”

Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, condemned the GOP’s priorities as “ludicrous.”

“When your most important points are drag shows and Hunter Biden, and you don’t care about the death of the planet and the death of democracy, that says something,” he added.

But there seems no chance of Republicans backing off now. And even if that approach carries risks, it will also complicate the president’s political life for some time to come.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

–Updated at 8:09 a.m.