White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer questions about Hunter Biden and his four-year-old daughter Navy, ...
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer questions about Hunter Biden and his four-year-old daughter Navy, President Joe Biden’s unacknowledged seventh grandchild, on Tuesday.
Navy lives with her mother, former stripper Lunden Roberts, in Arkansas. Roberts is currently battling with the president’s son in court over $20,000 monthly paternity payments, which Hunter is seeking to have decreased, according to CNN.
Asked about the paternity case and the White House’s failure to acknowledge Navy, Jean-Pierre refused to answer.
“I wanted to ask about the trial going on in Arkansas with Hunter Biden and the child support. Are the president and first lady monitoring that? And how come they haven’t acknowledged the seventh grandchild?” asked Emily Goodwin, U.S. politics reporter for the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“I’m not going to speak to that from here,” answered Jean-Pierre.
The press secretary also ignored a quick follow-up from James Rosen, the chief White House correspondent for Newsmax.
The president and his son have repeatedly refused to acknowledge Navy, even after a court-ordered paternity test proved that Navy is Hunter’s daughter. The president bragged about his grandchildren last week during a “take your child to work day” event at the White House. Biden listed six grandchildren, leaving off Navy.
“The best part of it all, I have six grandchildren, and I’m crazy about them. I speak to them every single day,” Biden said. “Not a joke,” he added.
Hunter appeared in an Arkansas courtroom on Monday after Roberts’ legal team accused him of refusing to comply with a court order to produce fulsome financial records. Roberts’ attorneys have argued that Hunter should produce his records — including assets such as cars and houses and the amount of money he has made selling amateur artwork — to prove that his paternity payments should be decreased.
Independence County Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer scolded Hunter in the courtroom for providing overly redacted records, saying their ability to keep certain information out of the public eye was “being somewhat abused,” according to CNN.
In addition to the legal battle over paternity payments, Roberts is also attempting to get Navy’s last name, currently the same as her mother’s, legally changed to “Biden.” The Biden family name is “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful,” Roberts’ attorneys wrote in a court filing in December.
Roberts’ attorneys said that changing Navy’s last name to her father’s would make her “known to the world” as a “member of the prestigious Biden family,” according to The New York Times.
Hunter’s legal team is fighting Roberts’ request. Hunter’s attorneys wrote in a response that Roberts had not shown that changing Navy’s name was in her best interest.
“The child should have the opportunity for input at a time when the disparagement of the Biden name is not at its height,” Hunter’s attorneys wrote. “The notoriety would no doubt rob this child of peaceful existence.”
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