NEW YORK ā As he gears up for reelection, President Joe Biden is already facing questions about his ability to convince voters that the economy is performing well. There's skepticism about the 80-year-old president's ability to manage a second term.
On Friday, Biden faced a fresh setback when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to probe his son Hunter.
Biden's challenges pale in comparison with his predecessor, Donald Trump, who is facing three criminal indictments, with additional charges expected soon. Still, the appointment of the special counsel was a reminder of the vulnerabilities facing Biden as he wages another election campaign in a deeply uncertain political climate.
There was little immediate sign that Garland's decision meaningfully changed Biden's standing within his party. If anything, it underscored the unprecedented nature of the next election. Rather than a battle of ideas waged on the traditional campaign trail, the next push for the presidency may be shaped by sudden legal twists in courtrooms from Washington to Delaware and Florida.
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"Prior to Trump, this would be a big deal," New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said of Friday's announcement. "Now, I don't think it means anything. Trump has made everyone so numb to this stuff."
Referring to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, Buckley added, "Because of how dismissive MAGA America is to the very real crimes of Trump and his family, it has numbed the minds of swing voters and Democratic voters or activists who would normally be fully engaged and outraged."
Polling showed that Democratic voters were not excited about Biden's reelection even before Garland's announcement.
Just 47% of Democrats wanted Biden to run again in 2024, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. Democrats' enthusiasm for Biden's presidential campaign consistently trailed behind Republicans' enthusiasm for Trump: 55% of Republicans said they wanted Trump to run again in the AP-NORC poll. Biden's approval rating in polling by Gallup stood at 41% on average over the last three months. Only Jimmy Carter notched a lower average rating in Gallup's polling at this point in his presidency, while ratings for Trump were about the same at 43%.
Garland announced Friday that he named David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, as the special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation. It comes as plea deal talks involving tax and gun charges in the case Weiss already was probing hit an impasse.
The appointment of a special counsel ensures that Trump will not stand alone as the only presidential candidate grappling with the fallout of a serious criminal investigation in the midst of the 2024 campaign season.
There is no evidence that President Biden himself committed any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Trump is charged in a plot to undermine democracy for his actions leading up to his supporters' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
He also faces separate charges for refusing to turn over classified documents after leaving the White House and financial crimes in New York related to a hush-money case involving a porn star. Georgia prosecutors are investigating whether Trump broke state laws by interfering in the 2020 election.
Still, Republicans were hopeful that the new special counsel may ultimately shift attention away from Trump's baggage while bolstering conservative calls to impeach the Democratic president, a proposal that divided the GOP on Capitol Hill, which long sought evidence linking Hunter Biden's alleged wrongdoings to his father.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, obtained thousands of pages of financial records from members of the Biden family through subpoenas to the Treasury Department and financial institutions as part of a congressional probe. He released a statement Friday accusing Garland of "trying to stonewall congressional oversight."
Comer vowed "to follow the Biden family's money trail."
Trump, the overwhelming front-runner in the crowded Republican presidential nomination fight, used the opportunity to put his likely general election opponent on the defensive, referring to the "Biden crime family" and the "Biden cartel."
"If this special counsel is truly independent ā even though he failed to bring proper charges after a four year investigation and he appears to be trying to move the case to a more Democrat-friendly venue ā he will quickly conclude that Joe Biden, his troubled son Hunter, and their enablers, including the media, which colluded with the 51 intelligence officials who knowingly misled the public about Hunter's laptop, should face the required consequences," the Trump campaign said.
Back in New Hampshire, Buckley acknowledged that voters are not excited about Biden's reelection.
"But they're really not excited about Trump," he said. "There's a seriousness around this election. People can say they're not excited (about Biden). They can say, 'Oh, he shouldn't run again.' But the reality is that he's the only alternative to Trump."
Meanwhile, it's unclear how closely key voters are paying attention.
Democratic strategist Bill Burton suggested the GOP's focus on the president's son would backfire.
"From a political standpoint, I think Republicans are stupid to spend so much time talking about the president's son," he said. "People are going to be voting on the economy. They're going to be voting on who's tougher on social media companies and national security."
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