Biden in First-Ever Publicly Acknowledges 7th Grandchild From Hunter
© AP Photo / Manuel Balce CenetaPresident Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden returns to the the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 1, 2021, from a trip to Florida where he met with first responders and family members from condo tower in Surfside, Fla., that collapsed last week
© AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta
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The Biden family previously refused to acknowledge the four-year-old girl despite a paternity test proving that the US president’s son, Hunter Biden, is her biological father.
US President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild for the very first time on Friday in a statement that specifically described her as a grandchild.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden [Roberts], are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” the president said in a statement. “This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter."
“Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy,” Biden added.
It was marked first acknowledgment by the president that the child was his son’s daughter. Hunter Biden was earlier forced to take a DNA test after Roberts sued him for child support. The two recently settled the child support case for an undisclosed monthly payment by Hunter Biden.
Roberts was also suing for the right to give Navy Roberts the Biden last name, but she dropped that request as part of the settlement.
Hunter Biden wrote in his 2021 memoir that he met Lunden Roberts while in the throes of a drug and alcohol addiction, which included crack cocaine.
“I had no recollection of our encounter,” he wrote. “That’s how little connection I had with anyone.” In the 2019 lawsuit, Roberts alleged that Hunter Biden never met Navy Roberts, and that he “could not identify the child out of a photo lineup.”
The Biden administration was the subject of criticism for refusing to acknowledge the child, something that intensified as Biden’s other grandchildren frequently visited the White House.
The first son has four other children, three with his first wife, one with Roberts, and one with his current wife, Melissa Cohen. Joe Biden has two other grandchildren from his eldest son Beau, who died from cancer in 2015.
The commander-in-chief credited his grandchildren for convincing him to run for president in 2020.