White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer whether President Joe Biden acknowledges Hunter Biden’s out-of-wedlock child as his granddaughter.
Hunter Biden answered questions during a June 16 deposition relating to a paternity lawsuit brought forth by the mother of his estranged fourth child, Lunden Roberts. The child, 4-year-old Navy Joan Roberts, has not been publicly recognized by her father or her extended family amid the legal battles regarding child support.
“There was a story in the New York Times (NYT) over the weekend about Hunter Biden’s daughter in Arkansas. Does the President acknowledge this little girl as his granddaughter?” the Wall Street Journal’s Catherine Lucey asked.
“I don’t have anything to share from here,” Jean-Pierre answered, before quickly calling on the next reporter.
The first son has been entrenched in legal battles with Roberts, a former stripper, after refusing to acknowledge the child as his own following her birth in 2018. After a DNA confirmed the younger Biden fathered Roberts’ daughter in 2019, the two parties agreed to a child support settlement in 2020.
The younger Biden claimed in May he did not have the personal finances to pay $20,000 a month in child support. The parties agreed to a child support settlement in 2020, but the first son requested adjustments in 2022.
His lawyers said the first son had already paid $750,000 in child support to Roberts, and was his financial troubles were so bad he was sleeping on a cot during the president’s trip to Ireland. (RELATED: Mother Of Hunter Biden’s Disowned Child Speaks Out After Settlement)
The first son has never met his youngest daughter and has not expressed interest in doing so.
The president has never publicly acknowledged the existence of his 4-year-old granddaughter, despite discussing his other grandchildren. During the Christmas season, Biden and the first lady hung up stockings with all their grandchildren’s names, except Navy’s.
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioned Biden on his granddaughter in 2019 after the DNA test.
“I’m wondering if you have a comment on this report, and court filing, out of Arkansas that your son Hunter just made you a grandfather again,” Doocy asked.
“No, that’s a private matter, and I have no comment,” President Biden said. “Only you would ask that,” he added. “You’re a good man. You’re a good man. Classy.”
Roberts alleged the first son stopped responding to her text messages by the time of Navy’s birth and removed her and the child from his health insurance, according to The New York Times. His sudden silence toward his child’s mother eventually led to the paternity test and settled child support case.
Roberts filed a motion with Arkansas’ 16th Circuit Court in December to change her child’s last name to Biden. Her attorney said the child would “benefit from carrying the Biden family name” because it is “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.”