Talking Points: Hunter Biden's impact on President Biden's reelection bid
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Last week, U.S. House Republicans held their first hearing as part of their effort to impeach President Joe Biden.
The committee has been investigating the president and his son, Hunter Biden, for months, but so far, has not cited specific laws or statutes with evidence to show the president broke the law, boosted his personal finances improperly or abused his office to help his son.
Democrats strongly pushed back at the hearing and criticized the entire process as politically motivated. They have long fended off attacks on the president's son with a quick, "Hunter Biden is not the one running for president."
In Talking Points, Esme Murphy looks at the polls showing Hunter Biden's troubles are beginning to worry more Democrats.
In a CNN survey from September, 61% of those polled felt that Joe Biden had some involvement in his son's business dealings and 42% think the older Biden acted illegally.
David Schultz, a professor with Hamline University, agrees with Democrats and believes the hearings are part of political warfare.
"I think for many Republicans, they want to impeach Biden, partly a political tit for tat, Trump was impeached, let's impeach Biden." said Schultz. "This might take away some of the heat from all of Trump's indictments and make it a little bit more difficult for Biden to be able to campaign against Trump. So the bottom line answer is, it doesn't matter what's really true. This is sort of all out political warfare. And it could still hurt Joe Biden, because it takes away from his messaging."
Meanwhile, Preya Samsundar, a Republican political consultant, believes there are not political motivations and that her party just wants the truth.
"House Republicans want to get more information, they want to make sure that they're doing their due diligence," said Samsundar. "They're not just going to do what the Democrats did during the four years under Donald Trump, they're not just going to jump at the opportunity to impeach someone they don't like. They want to make sure that they're getting the necessary evidence that they're making sure that they're lining up all of their ducks. So when they do come out with a determination one way or another, they have a reason behind it, that they have the facts behind it. And I think that process should be allowed to play out."
With just a little over a year away from the 2024, Abou Amara, a Democratic analyst, told Murphy voters are not concerned about this issue.
"I think the average democratic voter can hold, you know, walk and chew gum at the same time," said Amara. "They can say, you know, Hunter Biden should be held accountable. And Joe Biden is not Hunter Biden. And if you could make that distinction and talk about the record, I think it's ultimately not going to make much of a difference."
Amy Koch, a Republican analyst, believes as more information comes out about Hunter Biden it could become a bigger issue for Biden.
"I do think the Hunter Biden, like what exactly went on as more is put out there and as more inaccuracies and untruths are kind of unearthed. That that is a problem," said Koch.
Talking Points airs every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., live on CBS News Minnesota.
