White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed on Tuesday about why President Joe Biden is refusing to acknowledge that he has another granddaughter living in the state of Arkansas after a DNA test proved that first son Hunter Biden is the father.
Four-year-old Navy presently resides in Arkansas with her mother, Lunden Roberts, a former stripper. Roberts is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Hunter Biden over $20,000 monthly child support payments, which Hunter is seeking to reduce, according to CNN.
Hunter was ordered to appear in court regarding the matter on Monday.
When asked about the paternity case, Jean-Pierre pointedly rejected the question.
“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.
In addition, she went on to quickly reject an immediate follow-up from Newsmax’s White House correspondent James Rosen.
Daily Mail's @EmilyLGoodin: "I wanted to ask about the trial…in Arkansas w/Hunter Biden & the child support. Are [Joe & Jill Biden] monitoring that & how come they haven't acknowledged the 7th grandchild?"
KJP: "I'm not gonna speak to that from here"
James Rosen: "Why not?" pic.twitter.com/TARVeT7K6L
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 2, 2023
Despite a court-ordered paternity test confirming that Navy is Hunter’s daughter, the president and his son have consistently refused to recognize her. During a “take your child to work day” event at the White House last week, the president boasted about his grandchildren, naming six of them but leaving out 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 claimed.
“Not a joke,” he added.
On Monday, Hunter made an appearance in an Arkansas courtroom after Roberts’ legal team accused him of failing to comply with a court order to provide comprehensive financial records. Roberts’ attorneys have contended that Hunter should submit his financial records, which include assets such as cars and houses, as well as the revenue generated from selling amateur artwork, to demonstrate that his child support payments should be reduced.
During the hearing, Independence County Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer rebuked Hunter for submitting excessively redacted records, remarking that their capacity to protect certain information from the public was “being somewhat abused.”
Roberts is also pursuing a legal name change for Navy, seeking to replace her current last name, which is the same as her mother’s, with “Biden.” In a December court filing, Roberts’ lawyers argued that the Biden family name is “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.”
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,” per The New York Times.
Hunter is fighting that as well, however.
“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 argued. “The notoriety would no doubt rob this child of peaceful existence.”
