Joe Biden has publicly acknowledged the existence of his seventh grandchild, four-year-old Navy Joan Roberts, for the first time in a statement to a gossip magazine.
Navy was born to Hunter Biden and Lunden Roberts, a former adult performer in Arkansas who had a brief fling with Biden resulting in Navy’s birth. At one point, Roberts was included on the payroll and health insurance program of one of Hunter Biden’s companies, but this ended abruptly, according to the Hunter Biden laptop.
Biden has been roundly criticized by political opponents on the right, and even some allies on the left, for refusing to acknowledge his illegitimate child, even as Hunter Biden reportedly dodged service in a child support lawsuit by residing inside the White House. The lawsuit was eventually settled when Hunter offered to give pieces of his his amateur art to his child.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, 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,” Biden said in a statement provided to People Magazine.
The 80-year-old claimed, “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.”
It is unclear whether Biden has ever met his grandchild.
The statement came only days after Hunter Biden’s plea agreement, that many conservatives called a “sweetheart deal”, was shelved by a Delaware judge who repeatedly questioned the novel nature of the legal document.
Judge Maryellen Noreika, an appointee of 45th President Donald Trump, questioned the broad immunity offered by prosecutors, and forced them to admit that, despite their proposed plea deal, they were continuing to investigate the possibility that Hunter illegally acted as a foreign agent without registering.
