Hunter Biden’s Path to Avoid Prosecution: Run for President

“He can equally argue that a presidential candidate in a forthcoming election must be exonerated from legal indictments to avoid “election interference” or “weaponization of the justice system” by the regime.“ —Anthony Ogbo

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In the realms of political governance, the power of setting precedence cannot be underestimated. When a precedent is created, it becomes a guiding principle or standard for future actions or decisions. It establishes a framework for how similar situations should be handled, and it holds individuals accountable for their actions. Whether in law, politics, or personal relationships, setting precedence can shape and influence future outcomes.

Since last year, the former president, Donald Trump has been at loggerheads with the law, playing hide-and-seek with the Justice Department over his surmounting legal predicament. The major contention was that a presidential candidate in a forthcoming election must be exonerated from legal indictments to avoid “election interference” or “weaponization of the justice system” by the regime.

Some media analysts and legal scholars with political interests have argued similarly, that the “candidate” Trump should be immune from charges over offenses he committed because he is a candidate.

A few days ago however, the Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. He faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted. Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, defended his client accusing U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss, who is leading the probe, of political bias.

Since this announcement, President Biden’s Republican critics and the right-wing media communities have been celebrating. They have a reason to. For instance, this derisive federal indictment has provided a boost to House Republicans for their impeachment inquiry against President Biden – yet there was no mention of Biden in the indictment. So far, their efforts to prove serious wrongdoing on Biden’s part have come up blank.

But there is another dimension to Hunter’s case. As we know, Trump accumulated his legal woes before he quickly declared to run for President on November 15, 2022. He made it clear that no verdict or sentence would halt his campaign and bragged that he would carry on running for president from behind bars if he had to. And that if elected, he would use the power of his office to either quash any ongoing prosecutions or pardon himself for any convictions.

He posted personally identifiable information about court officials, including a photo of a judge’s daughter; warned ​​of “potential death and destruction” if he is charged; and vowed, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.” Trump’s lawyers argue he is a political candidate exercising his First Amendment rights.

In Georgia, grand jurors’ names, addresses, and images were released online by Trump allies and a racist death threat against the judge presiding over the federal Jan. 6 case. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law published a display of Trump’s troubling pattern of attacking judges and the courts for rulings he disagrees with. In addition, Rolling Stone (July 2022) reported how Trump told his team, he needed to be president again to save himself from criminal probes.

Trump has intentionally derailed proceedings by frivolously requesting delays and unwarranted extensions on pre-trial issues. These are just strategies to aimlessly continue dragging these cases with unjustified delays.

But his antics so far are paying off. Besides the delay tactics, Trump and his cronies believe that his cases would be strategically dragged to the extremely right-leaning Supreme Court, where the judges he appointed could be of great help.

There are also congressional efforts to save Trump from his dilemma. Recall that on March 30, a grand jury in Manhattan indicted him on 34 counts of falsification of business records. Shockingly, the response of congressional Republicans created an ugly pattern of defense for Trump. Before the indictment, Republican congressional committee chairs threatened to subpoena confidential records from the investigation and withhold federal funding in retaliation for any indictment.

These are all dangerous precedents that can stall the democratic process and destroy the scepter that guides the rule of law. In a democracy, setting a precedence may not be a written law, but remains a fundamental aspect of the legal system. In other words, when a court decides on a particular case; congress undertakes an unusual process, or the system condones a certain tradition, it becomes a binding precedent that must be followed in similar cases in the future. This ensures consistency and predictability in the system.

The danger of all these trends is that a line of legal patterns has already been created, and more are on the way. In the meantime, Hunter Biden could take advantage of these privileges by simply declaring to run for election as an independent. He could follow Trump’s playbook and equally enjoy the privileges already set in the political and legal system.

♦Publisher of the Guardian News, Journalism and RTF Professor, Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is the author of the Influence of Leadership (2015)  and the Maxims of Political Leadership (2019). Contact: anthony@guardiannews.us