FILE – President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, April 29, 2023.Democrats were already concerned about President Joe Biden’s age, his leadership on the economy and his stalled agenda in Congress. And on Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland exposed another significant vulnerability for Biden’s reelection by appointing a special counsel to probe the president’s son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats were already concerned about President Joe Biden’s age, his leadership on the economy and his stalled agenda in Congress. And on Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland exposed another significant vulnerability for Biden’s reelection by appointing a special counsel to probe the president’s son, Hunter Biden. There was little sign that the development hurt Biden’s already weakened standing within his party in the hours after the announcement. But no one suggested it helped him either, as the 80-year-old president enters the 2024 election as one of the weakest incumbents in modern history.