Nearly five years after Republicans initially targeted Hunter Biden, the president's son could now possibly be called a convicted felon. But Donald J. Trump and allies had been secretly rooting for an acquittal because it would have been yet more evidence that the United States justice system was rigged in favor of the Bidens and against the Trumps, The New York Times reports. Tuesday’s guilty verdict was inconvenient to that narrative and the fund-raising potential for his campaign. A person with knowledge of the Trump campaign’s plans said there had been discussions about how much an acquittal would help Trump, potentially raising tens of millions of additional dollars as they planned to cite it as more evidence the justice system was rigged. After Trump was convicted in Manhattan on 34 felony counts, his campaign raised record sums online, and some of his advisers recognized that an acquittal of Biden’s son could raise Trump far more cash than a conviction, the person said.
Prominent Republicans, including those in the Trump campaign, immediately minimized the three felony gun charges, complaining that the charges steered public attention away from unspecified crimes and a justice system that they insisted was still very much two-tiered. Trump's campaign issued a statement that described the conviction as a “distraction.” Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has remained close to Trump, said that Hunter Biden’s trial was fairly conducted. Yet the broadly muted G.O.P. response to the verdict has said more than any protestations to the contrary. A Trump ally candidly explained that as soon as it was clear that the Hunter Biden gun case couldn’t be used against President Biden, the topic fell off the radar for political messaging. “The only good that could come out of this was that if he was acquitted on charges where he’s obviously guilty,” the Trump ally said. “An acquittal on charges that he was obviously guilty was the only upside for us.”