Democrat Joe Biden is preparing to face questions Thursday night from President Donald Trump about emails purportedly found on his son Hunter's laptop, but it's not clear how he'll address the matter.
According to Politico, Biden's team and his allies are in disagreement over how he should handle the topic during Thursday night's presidential debate. Some think Biden should attack Trump over his own children's actions while he's been in office, while others say Biden should ignore the questions and try to keep the focus on political issues.
"It's a hard call," former Hillary Clinton adviser Philippe Reines told Politico. "He should defend Hunter, absolutely. I would probably take a turn and say: 'If you really want to talk about conflicts and family, we can pick any of your three adult children and one of their spouses — and you.'"
Biden, however, has yet to say much regarding the New York Post stories that have been rolled out since last week, which included explicit photos and videos of Hunter Biden, but also emails between him and officials in Ukraine and China in which he discussed business deals worth millions of dollars. The emails were purportedly sent while his father was serving as vice president, and veiled references to the elder Biden were made in some of the notes.
Trump and his campaign have pounced on the reports and are trying to paint the Biden family as corrupt criminals. Biden, however, has yet to take the bait.
"Why did Biden allow his son Hunter to sell access to him while he was vice president?" Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. "If the media won't ask Joe Biden these questions, the president will, and there will be no escape for Biden."
Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza told Politico that it's time Trump's actions involving his own family are brought to light.
"The thing that concerns me most about the Trump White House, he has reserved positions of power for members of his family. If Biden were to say anything, that's a point I think he should bring up — what's the rationale for it?" Garza said. "If I were the Biden campaign I would hit hard on that Trump doesn't want this to be a democracy anymore."
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