Trump announces attacks on Hunter Biden ahead of presidential debate

As Donald Trump and Joe Biden prepare for the next round of debates, Trump has already outlined a line of attack against his Democratic opponent as part of a long-running feud over the former president’s attempts to link Biden to his son’s foreign business dealings.

Hunter Biden’s problems have been compounded in recent weeks by his conviction in a gun trial – a proceeding that sent Republicans into a victory lap when government witnesses confirmed the authenticity of his abandoned laptop, which contained materials that fueled Republican claims that he benefited from years of closeness to his father.

Now Biden and Trump are facing each other for the first time since 2020 in a debate hosted by CNN in its Atlanta studio, and Trump hinted that he would repeat his line of attack.

“It wasn’t Russian disinformation. It was a fabricated story to influence the election,” Trump said recently at a conservative conference. “I expect we’ll talk about that at the debate.”

There will be no in-person audience for the 90-minute debate, a dynamic that threatens to dash all expectations.

“It tells you indirectly what’s going on, with applause or no applause,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. He acknowledged that he interrupted Biden too often during the first debate against him in September 2020 and said he had learned from the experience.

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday was a perfect opportunity for moderators to give Trump a level playing field.

“If CNN wants to prove they are fair and balanced, they should ask Joe Biden why he lied on the debate stage four years ago in 2020 about the existence of Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Leavitt told NBC News.

When Trump mentioned the laptop in the October 2020 presidential debate, Biden responded that it was a “Russian plan.”

As Biden prepares to face several possible Trumps on Thursday, including a Trump riddled with grievances and one pursuing a more disciplined message, Biden’s advisers are combing through recent interviews to identify his triggers.

Trump has avoided attacking Hunter Biden over his addiction problems, a stance some have described as a peace offering to the former president’s son. One Trump ally said he would be wise to offer Hunter Biden a commutation of his sentence if he wins the election.

There are indications that Trump is taking a more lenient stance toward Hunter Biden than he did toward his father, and Trump’s allies believe he will take action following Trump’s conviction for paying hush money.

“Trump doesn’t see Hunter Biden’s struggle with addiction as a target,” said a former senior Trump administration official. “The hostility is directed at Joe Biden, and there is a perception that Hunter wouldn’t be in this position without his father.”

At Camp David, Maryland, Biden is preparing for how the debate might unfold, including the possibility that Trump might raise the issue of Hunter Biden and his legal troubles. Meanwhile, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a hot vice presidential candidate, challenged CNN to ask questions about the laptop. Trump’s political action committee has floated possible questions for moderators, and Trump’s own posts on Truth Social seem to increase the likelihood that he will address the issue, according to a source familiar with the debate preparations and discussions.

But Biden’s advisers don’t believe the issue will definitely come up in the debate or, if it does, will be the focus, and they have been tracking public comments by Trump that suggest he may soften his tone.

There’s a chance Trump will avoid the issue altogether. While Hunter Biden’s recent trial on gun charges put his drug use under the microscope, Trump shied away from attacking him for his addiction. Instead, he spoke at length about his own brother’s struggle with alcoholism in an interview with Sean Hannity during Biden’s trial.

“You understand addiction – I think most Americans do,” Hannity said, before trying to steer the interview toward what he called “the larger issues facing the Biden family.”

Trump interjected: “Excuse me,” he said. “Look, I feel very sorry for them in terms of the addiction that they have right now, because I understand the world of addiction. … Frankly, it would be nice if people did certain things and lived certain ways, but they’re not capable of doing that. They’re just not capable of stopping.”

Some Republican allies believe it’s politically bad for Trump to talk about Hunter Biden’s conviction because it risks putting a spotlight on his own legal troubles. After a historic nearly two-month trial, he was convicted in New York City last month of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign. His support among swing voters and independent voters appeared to be waning in a recent Fox News poll that showed Joe Biden with a slight lead over Trump in a general election comparison. That lead is within the margin of error.

“It takes us off topic,” said one Republican aide with ties to Trump. “Who knows what will happen if Biden says something that upsets him? But the more we can talk about issues, the better off we’ll be.”

The adviser said this risked triggering a spat that would likely do Trump no favors.

“He’ll say you’re a convicted felon, and that will scare away the independents; that will scare away the swing voters,” the aide said.

Biden’s aides feel that Trump had a “very strong” moment in 2020 when he lashed out at Hunter Biden on the debate stage. They would be happy to see that exchange repeated, said a source familiar with the preparations and discussions, noting that the president is keen to reiterate his support for his son as he recovers from addiction.

According to the source, Biden is ready to repeat what he has already said publicly: that he has no plans to pardon his son or commute his sentence.

Trump, meanwhile, has been advised to focus on the substantive issues and is being prepared on policy issues.

“The more Donald Trump can talk about the issues, his accomplishments and his vision for the country, the better off we will be,” this person said.

A source familiar with some of the strategies being discussed echoed that view, saying, “Trump will focus on the issues people know and love him for.”

The danger, this person said, is that “you bring up Hunter and (Biden) brings up the New York court ruling,” referring to Trump’s recent conviction on charges related to paying hush money during the 2016 campaign.

Republican leaders in the House sent criminal complaints to the Justice Department this month recommending charges against Hunter and James Biden, the president’s brother. They claim that testimony they gave before the Oversight and Judiciary Committees implicates Joe Biden in what Republicans say was an attempt to profit from his family’s business dealings while he was vice president. Biden has denied any wrongdoing, and the GOP investigation has yet to produce evidence incriminating him.

But insisting on the issue will not help unless Biden faces criminal consequences.

“We proved that with Trump,” said a former Trump adviser. “The allegations didn’t hurt him until he was convicted.”

During the first debate in 2020, Biden said Trump’s claims that his son accepted payments from foreign business partners during Biden’s tenure as vice president were “completely discredited.” When the two faced off in a second debate a few weeks later, Trump returned to the issue, attempting to link Biden to materials allegedly taken from a computer Hunter Biden left at a Delaware repair shop during his descent into drug addiction.

“If that’s true, then he’s a corrupt politician,” Trump said before turning to Biden. “So don’t tell me you’re an innocent baby.”

In response, Biden cited a letter from 51 former intelligence officials who claimed the files on the laptop bore “the classic hallmarks” of Russian disinformation, an accusation likely to draw Trump’s ire after he faced a special counsel investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia and was labeled a possible “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin by Hillary Clinton four years earlier.

The White House has denied that Biden was in any way involved in his son’s business dealings.

And while Trump continues to raise money from his conviction in New York, a former adviser said the frequent reminders risked damaging his appeal among independent and swing voters.

“Right now he’s Richard Nixon, pointing with both fingers, ‘I’m not a crook,'” the former adviser said.

And there are other pitfalls. When Trump attacks Biden’s age, “he brings into play the fact that they are the same age,” the ally said.

Another source familiar with Trump’s plans said: “I told him to stay away. But nobody tells Donald what to do.”