Friday 14th June, 2024

The US presidential race has taken another dramatic turn with a federal jury finding President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, guilty of having illegally purchased and possessed a gun while being addicted to crack cocaine. A sentencing date has not yet been set. The offence carries a prison term. Hunter is reportedly considering an appeal. A life of debauchery is dogging him.

No sooner had Hunter’s guilty verdict been announced than President Biden declared that he accepted the outcome of the case and respected the judicial process. His reaction was in sharp contrast to that of his rival, former President Donald Trump, who claimed a felony trial that led to his conviction had been rigged. However, Biden only made a virtue of necessity. There is no way he can be critical of the verdict at issue, which came close on the heels of Trump’s felony conviction, which the Democrats have welcomed.

It was ironic that Biden, who gained politically from Trump’s conviction in the presidential race, happened to hug his convicted son in public on Tuesday. Never had a US President, former or serving, been found guilty of felony before Trump’s conviction. Similarly, Hunter is the first child of a US President to be convicted of a federal crime.

President Biden lost no time in declaring that he would not grant a pardon to his son convicted of three federal gun crimes. He cannot afford to do otherwise, with the presidential election only a few months away; the Republicans are all out to destroy him politically.

Pardoning his son is a surefire way to ruin his chances of re-election. However, the White House has not ruled out a potential commutation for Hunter. But such action will entail a huge political cost for Biden. Perhaps, a commutation could prove as costly as a pardon politically.

The two convictions at issue are sure to figure heavily in the debate to be held between Trump and Biden soon. However, opinion is divided on the potential impact they will have on the campaigns of the two candidates. The Democrats claim that following Trump’s conviction, Biden has picked up a few points, especially in the battleground states, but political analysts point out that these increases in his approval rating are within the margins of error and therefore negligible. The Republicans insist that there has been an uptick in their fundraising since Trump’s conviction, which the former President has succeeded in monetising, so to speak.

Biden, however, stands accused of having leveraged his political positions to help his son, Hunter, in the past. In 2016, it was alleged that he, as the US Vice President, had engineered the ouster of the then Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Viktor Shokin, who had launched a probe into Burishma Holdings Ltd., a Ukrainian energy company, which had Hunter on its board of directors and paid him a princely salary. There were several such controversies involving Hunter’ foreign business interests while his father was the Vice President.

Trouble, however, is not over for Biden. Hunter will face another trial in September for not paying taxes in 2017 and 2018. The hearing is sure to grab media attention and be another disconcerting distraction for Biden.

The US is no respecter of international laws and conventions, but the guilty verdicts against Trump and Hunter, and a nascent impeachment inquiry against President Biden have demonstrated that its domestic systems are stronger than individuals, however powerful they may be politically or otherwise, and therein lies the real strength of the American democracy, unlike in countries like Sri Lanka, where politicians and their kith and kin are above the law, and can amass ill-gotten wealth and even have their rivals murdered with impunity.