LOS ANGELES — When Joe Biden gave his victory speech after winning a series of key states in Super Tuesday, his son Hunter Biden, a Los Angeles resident, was nowhere near the scene.
With the former vice president now effectively in a one-on-one race with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, the younger Biden’s absence was conspicuous. Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine were part of the fact set in President Trump’s impeachment. And unlike Joe Biden’s late son Beau, a Delaware attorney general, Hunter’s name is almost never mentioned on the campaign trail.
That’s likely about to change.
For months, top GOP figures have been obsessed with Hunter Biden. The Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign allege corruption because Biden, 50, worked at the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings and made up to $50,000 a month for the job.
The attacks subsided when it seemed Biden was on the ropes politically, with big losses in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
But Biden’s resounding win in South Carolina brought the GOP back to reality. The candidate who many party insiders believe has the best shot at defeating Trump in November is in the strongest position to win the Democratic nomination since he first announced.
And the GOP is certain to make sure Hunter Biden’s controversies remain in the political spotlight. On Monday, Sen. Ron Johnson told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he planned on subpoenaing a Burisma-tied company over its connection to Hunter Biden.
In a memo, Johnson said testimony from Blue Star Strategies, a firm that represented the interests of Burisma in the United States, “sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s role as a board member of Burisma to gain access to, and potentially influence matters at, the State Department.”
Perhaps no person will be more ready to turn attention back on Hunter Biden than Trump himself. Although Senate hearings and a newly announced investigation by the Ukrainian government into Biden will surely generate media attention, the president’s Twitter feed and remarks at rallies could prove the most effective.
Hunter Biden’s past exploits are ripe for a tabloid-loving president. Trump’s potential jokes about Hunter Biden’s years of crack cocaine abuse, his illegitimate child with a stripper, and his newfound hobby as an artist in a glamorous Los Angeles neighborhood write themselves.
That also means that Joe Biden’s campaign will need to address its candidate’s historical sensitivity regarding questions about his son. Now that he’s back to being a front-runner, the issues are guaranteed to linger until November.
As pressure mounts back on the Biden family, it’s also entirely possible that it could have a real impact on the Democratic primary, which is far from over. For months, Sanders has tried taking the mantle of electability from Biden.
The longer the primary gets drawn out, anxieties from Democratic voters about a bruised front-runner will only increase. It remains unlikely that Sanders, who has been criticized by supporters for not being tough enough on Biden, will directly mention the issues surrounding Hunter Biden.
Instead, Sanders outlined a new offensive targeting Biden’s past support for the Iraq War, trade deals, and Social Security. In many ways, these lines mirror the kind of rhetoric Biden would expect in a general election.
Trump could barely hide his excitement Wednesday morning, tweeting that the “Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders.”
“It was a perfect storm, with many good states remaining for Joe!” he said.
