Could be.
We may never know.

<https://www.wnd.com/2024/12/bad-seed-victor-davis-hanson-claims-hunter-biden-was-blackmailing-joe-into-pardoning-him/>

''Bad seed': Victor Davis Hanson claims Hunter Biden was 'blackmailing'
Joe into pardoning him
'He feels that he cooked up the entire shakedown operation. He is the
dirty bag man''

'Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson claimed Friday on
his podcast that Hunter Biden was "blackmailing" President Joe Biden
with his past crimes and using it as leverage for a potential pardon.

Despite Biden and his staff repeatedly insisting that Hunter would not
be pardoned for his tax fraud and felony gun charges, the president
announced Sunday his decision to clear Hunter's record. On "The Victor
Davis Hanson Show," the senior fellow suggested that Hunter, angry at
being seen as the "bad seed" of his family, allegedly blackmailed Biden
by threatening to testify against the family.

"There is a sickness in Hunter Biden vis-a-vis his father. I mentioned
that if one reads carefully the laptop communications, there's an anger.
He is not Beau Biden. He's the bad seed, the prodigal son," Hanson said.
"He feels that he cooked up the entire shakedown operation. He is the
dirty bag man. He is Hunter. Remember he says to his cousin, 'They
always have me do stuff. Nobody ever, I'm the one making this family. If
I was like dad, I'd charge everybody.' So he had to do the dirty work."

Hunter Biden (ABC News video screenshot)
Hunter Biden
"When he was up with the IRS and they were squeezing him because of this
phony sweetheart deal they cooked up and the judge was mad. His lawyer
said, 'We might have to call in Joe Biden, now president.' Think of
that," Hanson added. "They're going to call the president of the United
States to testify on behalf of Hunter Biden. He would say something that
would probably be preposterously false."

Hanson went on to support his claim of Hunter's alleged leverage by
highlighting how, in 2020, Hunter began selling his ink-blown art,
claiming the technique was a reference to his past cocaine addiction.

"So he was basically blackmailing his own father and saying, 'If you
don't pardon me at some point, I am going to have you come and testify.'
If you don't believe this, [and] you think Victor's crazy, right during
the height of this controversy and this exposure, Hunter Biden started
to paint and he put a paintbrush in his nose and mouth?" Hanson
recalled. "I mean, that was almost a deliberate reference to his Coke."

"Think about that, everybody. So you're the presidential son. You're
under enormous scrutiny. You've embarrassed your dad and you just, and
you are known and you have videos of you snorting Coke and you come up
with the idea that you're going to put straws in your nose and blow on a
canvas, blow — blows a keyword — paint all over the canvas," Hanson
said.

During his new artist phase, Hunter was praised by art critics for his
work. Some, like Mark Tribe, chairman of the MFA Fine Arts Department at
New York City's School of Visual Arts, described the president's son's
work to The New York Post as an "organic abstraction that I find easy on
the eyes and provokes your curiosity." However, reports in 2021 found
that Hunter's work wasn't sold until after Biden won the presidency,
raising questions about the connection between Democratic donors and
those who had purchased a substantial amount of Hunter's art.

"Then they go to the Biden administration and say, 'Hey, I gave Hunter
three or 400,000 for those paintings. I want an ambassadorship. I want a
law change. I want a regulation modified.' Why did he do that?" Hanson
asked. "Well, I can tell you it's the same thing as the references in
the laptop. It is the same thing of threatening to bring his father in
to court and embarrass him. He's sending a cannonball shot across the
administration," Hanson said'