The cosmos appears to be having a laugh as the first court case involving a sitting president’s offspring kicked off just four days after the first-ever conviction of a former president in the United States. Hunter Biden is not being unfairly targeted nor is he a casualty of an unjust legal system. If he is found guilty, there won’t be an outcry about the misuse of the American courts. If, by contrast, he is exonerated, an explosion of conspiracy theories can be expected.
One may overlook that the rule of law in the US remains unbroken. Both Donald Trump and Hunter Biden have had jury trials and the option to appeal. No judicial system is above criticism. However, in the United States, an individual is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. It’s an indicator of a troubled political environment when one of its two principal parties treats the rule of law as a political football.
To recap, last week, Trump was unanimously found guilty on all 34 charges related to concealing election payments by tampering with business records. Following this, Trump branded the judge overseeing his case a “devil” and claimed to be the target of a kangaroo court. His party, virtually in unison, echoed this sentiment. A notable dissenter, Larry Hogan, the Republican Senate candidate from Maryland, was attacked for his audacity.
Hogan had the audacity to tell Americans to honour the judgement and the legal process. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who serves as the Republican National Committee’s chairperson, retorted that anyone who does not respect Hogan has no place in the Republican Party or more broadly in America. The takeaway, it seems, is that dismissal awaits Republicans who dispute assertions of a skewed judiciary.
As for Hunter Biden’s fate, it remains uncertain. He stands accused of lying on a federal form in 2018 to illegally procure a firearm. This gun was surrendered to the police 11 days later after his then girlfriend – his late elder brother’s widow, Beau Biden – had discarded it. Hallie Biden was fearful that Hunter Biden’s addiction to crack cocaine was a dangerous mix with gun ownership.
The onus is on the prosecution to establish that Biden Jr deliberately misrepresented the truth, claiming no drug-use at the time of his firearm purchase. His story is an unfortunate narrative of a political heir who declared he had reached his lowest point. It’s reflected poorly on Washington’s workings that Biden Jr was able to leverage his father’s prominence for personal gain. His noteworthy income was largely earned during his father’s vice-presidency tenure when he secured a position on a Ukrainian energy company board, despite lacking relevant qualifications – it’s clear his family name played a significant role in his appointment.
Wealth will invariably seek to wield influence. The sole safeguard against such misuse is integrity. It’s unlikely that Jared Kushner would have secured a $2 billion Saudi investment for his private equity firm in 2021 if he was not the former president’s son-in-law. The ethical conduct in the US capital needs reviewing, but repudiating this is vastly distinct from endorsing outrageous beliefs about Moscow-style public prosecutions.
Regarding both Trump and Biden, we see contrasting dynamics. Biden could have used his presidential powers to pardon his son, thereby mitigating his legal troubles, an approach Trump enlisted for his political allies who faced imprisonment. Moreover, Biden could grant a pre-emptive pardon to his son before the independent trial for tax fraud due in California. Biden Jr’s second trial kicks off in early September, coinciding with the initial stages of the formal US general election. If there’s manipulation of the system by Biden, it’s manifested unusually.
Steve Bannon, formerly a strategist for Trump, confessed that their movement’s true opposition was the media. His advised tactic was to bombard them with misinformation. This approach results in the more misleading information disseminated, the more likely a sceptical public will condemn everyone uniformly.
In the middle of all the claims labeling Trump as a victim, it’s easy to overlook that he has likely evaded prosecution for his alleged attempts to illegally manipulate election results. Later this month, the US supreme court will pass judgment on Trump’s immunity claim for his actions during his presidential term. By vacillating over what should be a straightforward ruling, the predominantly conservative court has almost guaranteed Trump’s evading accountability.
The possibility of Hunter Biden serving a prison sentence remains uncertain, just as the potential legal outcomes surrounding Trump’s silence money matter. Despite these, they only represent minor distractions. The primary difference between the two contenders for the American presidency lies in their attitude towards law enforcement. While one safeguards the legal system’s sanctity, the other disregards it. The rest are irrelevant when compared to this. – All rights reserved, The Financial Times Limited 2024.