# What would be the downside to Having Hunter Biden testify at the impeachment trial?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 24, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876 "2020-01-24T01:48:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876/61 "2020-01-25T10:21:36Z")

</div>

> [@Buck\_Godot](#):
>
> Never Trumpers who [donated a million dollars](https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/trump-million-dollar-donors-ambassador-gordon-sondland) to the Trump inaugural committee (which then made its way into [Trump’s personal wallet](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/22/dc-sues-trump-organization-alleging-inflated-inaugural-party-bills-102123))?

_Illegally_ made its way to Trump’s personal wallet. (IANAL: Was this felony, misdemeanor, infraction, or just civil fraud?) Whatever law(s) were broken, some of this fraud is rather well documented I think. Why weren’t some of these frauds included in the Articles of Impeachment?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876/62 "2020-01-25T13:36:26Z")

</div>

> [@OldGuy](#):
>
> I do not know if they gave athletic scholarships in the past when any Bush attended.

It would be weird if Harvard Business School gave Bush an athletic scholarship.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876/63 "2020-01-25T14:13:01Z")

</div>

> [@BeepKillBeep](#):
>
> Also in the court of public opinion, it suggests the GOP might have a point, when in fact they do not. Getting additional witnesses is not going to help get Trump removed so better to make sure that the Republicans don’t get to sell their lies.

This is probably the worst downside.

Even if the public isn’t convinced that they do have a point, it introduces confusion, doubt, skepticism. The goal of an authoritarian’s information warfare campaign isn’t necessarily to persuade others that they’re right; it’s to gaslight people to the point where enough people give up and conclude that we’ll never really know the truth. Authoritarians assault the idea of truth itself, not necessarily to get people to believe in lies but to fuck with their ability to differentiate between fact and fiction or to trust their own senses and sources of information.

It won’t matter in terms of the outcome, as the Republicans will acquit Trump anyway. But the Democrats shouldn’t play into their hands by contributing to the false notion that Biden is somehow a legitimate source of concern. It’s Trump who is on trial, not Biden.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-downside-to-having-hunter-biden-testify-at-the-impeachment-trial/846876.md?page=3)