NEW YORK (AP) — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been sitting for hours a day in a Manhattan courtroom as his hush money trial draws to a close. The trial of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who is accused of lying on a federal gun purchase form, is scheduled to begin Monday in Wilmington, Delaware.
While presidents have been impeached, impeached, and pardoned in criminal cases before, and their families have been embroiled in legal trouble, never before has the criminal courtroom been as central to a presidential election as this one.
“It’s so unusual that we lack the terminology to express how unusual it is,” said presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky, author of the forthcoming book “Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.”
The two criminal cases are by no means identical. One concerns the conduct of a former president seeking to reclaim the White House who is accused of falsifying business records to cover up an illegal plot to influence the 2016 election. The other concerns a private citizen – albeit the son of the current president – who is accused of lying on a government gun purchase form by claiming he does not operate drugs.
Politically, however, there are some obvious overlaps. Both men say they are being pursued by overzealous prosecutors and unfairly targeted for political reasons. And both sides are trying to capitalize on highly personal and potentially embarrassing testimony about their opponents. Republicans are trying to operate Hunter Biden as a kind of target for the president himself.
The politics of the moment
Trump has heavily interfered in current politics, campaigned in court, claimed he was the target of a “witch hunt” and sowed doubts about the validity of the U.S. criminal justice system. Biden, for his part, has largely stayed out of it, a deliberate attempt to highlight the independence of the judiciary.
But this week, the Biden campaign decided that Trump’s case – the first of four criminal cases and possibly the only one to go to trial before the 2024 election – could no longer be ignored. The campaign brought in actor Robert De Niro and police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to denounce Trump at a press conference near the courthouse in Lower Manhattan.
Michael Tyler, spokesman for the Biden campaign, said the press conference was called because reporters are “covering this relentlessly, day after day.”
“And we want to remind the American people before the first debate on June 27th of the unique, ongoing and growing threat that Donald Trump poses to the American people and our democracy,” he said.
Trump’s operation immediately followed the Biden team to the same row of microphones to deride the press conference as evidence of “a desperate, unsuccessful and pathetic campaign that knows it is losing,” as Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt put it.
Meanwhile, inside, the jury listened to closing arguments in the Trump hush money trial.
Trump’s trial comes to an end
Prosecutors accuse Trump and his allies of launching a campaign to buy and suppress potentially embarrassing stories and cover up those payments in the final weeks before the 2016 presidential election in an illegal attempt to influence voters, particularly as Republicans grew increasingly concerned about potential fallout from the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump boasted about sexually groping women without their permission.
To bolster their arguments before the jury, prosecutors relied on shady figures close to Trump, including porn star Stormy Daniels, who testified about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. The prosecution’s key witness was Trump’s former lawyer and later opponent Michael Cohen, who bribed Daniels and placed Trump at the center of the plot, which he denies.
Trump strategically placed prominent allies in the audience throughout the trial and used the trial as a fundraising event. These allies held press conferences in a petite nearby park denouncing the criminal justice system. Trump’s family also appeared in court.
The trial against Hunter Biden begins
In contrast, Hunter Biden had to deal with his legal problems in public largely alone.
Republicans have relentlessly investigated his personal life, addiction problems and business dealings, trying – unsuccessfully – to link them to the president. Hunter Biden has remained still for years in the face of Republican criticism. But now, as his case draws closer, he is going on the offensive, arguing publicly that he is being unfairly targeted.
President Biden has said he loves his son and generally does not comment on the specifics of his son’s case. But the president already finds himself in the unusual, if not uncomfortable, position of ruling out a pardon if his son is convicted. He is scheduled to travel to France to attend a D-Day commemoration as Hunter Biden’s case gets underway.
White House aides say they are concerned about the impact of the trial on the president and first lady, who remain deeply concerned about their son’s health, well-being and sobriety. Off the record, some Democrats have expressed concern that Hunter Biden’s legal troubles could harm the president’s re-election campaign and even cause difficulties for Democrats in close House elections.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the president was focused on the American people, not the trials.
“The President and First Lady love their son. They are proud that their son has gotten back on his feet and is continuing his progress and will continue to support him,” she said.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to tax and gun charges after a deal last year that would have spared him – and his father – the spectacle of a trial fell through. His defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued that prosecutors then “caved to political pressure” and brought charges against the president’s son, while Republicans and Trump heaped criticism on the proposed deal, claiming the younger Biden would receive special treatment.
The proposed questionnaire for potential jurors is: “Raise your hand if you don’t believe this statement: The law should apply equally to everyone, including the president’s son.”
The case against Hunter Biden dates back to a time when he said he was addicted to crack cocaine. His descent into drugs and alcohol followed the death of his brother Beau Biden from cancer in 2015. Hunter Biden purchased and owned a gun for 11 days in October 2018 and indicated on the gun purchase form that he did not operate drugs.
Prosecutors plan to operate Hunter Biden’s published memoirs as evidence. They may also present contents of a laptop he left at a repair shop in Delaware and never picked up. The contents were leaked to Republicans in 2020, revealing embarrassing and personal photos and messages.
They also plan to call Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and Hallie, his brother’s widow with whom he had a romantic relationship, as witnesses. Prosecutors hope to prove he was addicted when he bought the gun.
The court documents do not name the names, but it is clear from the context that “witness three” is Hallie Biden, who has seen Hunter Biden using drugs many times and who, according to the court documents, “searched his pockets, backpacks and vehicle to help him get clean and discovered drug paraphernalia and drugs in his possession on multiple occasions.”
Biden visited Hallie Biden last weekend, which led to questions about whether they had discussed the upcoming case.
Jean-Pierre said the visit was “not about that” but rather about the upcoming anniversary of Beau’s death.
___ Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
