Through his attorneys, first son Hunter Biden has refused for months to provide specifics to an Arkansas court about his finances in a child support case brought by the mother of a child he fathered more than four years ago.
However, Biden has finally provided those details after the judge overseeing the case intimated she would order him jailed for contempt of court if he continued to defy her instructions.
What’s more, according to an exclusive report by the UK’s Daily Mail, the mother, Lunden Roberts, showed up in person to hear Biden’s testimony.
The move “would crank up the pressure on the Biden scion as Roberts’ attorneys prepared to grill him under oath about his earnings from secretive business deals in Ukraine, China, and elsewhere”, the outlet reported.
A source told the Daily Mail: “Lunden has every right to be there – but it is highly unusual. Attending Hunter’s deposition would have been a strategic choice and perhaps a head game. And why not? It’s harder for most people to be untruthful about a person in their presence”.
The outlet noted further:
Hunter’s deposition lasted about seven and a half hours before his sprawling motorcade exited the Stephens Building in downtown Little Rock around 4:30 pm.
The former flames settled the case in 2019 but Hunter abruptly asked a court last year to lower the $20,000 per month in child support he pays for their adorable four-year-old daughter, Navy Joan Roberts.
Roberts, 32, refused to budge until the First Son handed over a trove of financial docs and sat for a videotaped deposition which was supposed to take place at the Arkansas office of her Donald Trump-supporting attorney, Clinton Lancaster.
“Roberts, a former DC bottle girl who once worked as Hunter’s PA, drove in unnoticed about five minutes later. She was deposed at the same high-rise office for seven hours on Wednesday”, the outlet added.
Judge Holly Lodge Meyer, who is presiding over Biden’s child support case, issued an order earlier this month requiring President Joe Biden’s son to appear at the Independence County Courthouse in Batesville on July 10.
The purpose was for Biden to provide an explanation as to why he should not be held in contempt of court after lawyers representing Roberts argued that Hunter had failed to comply with the judge’s previous order in May, which required him to disclose information regarding his financial situation, the Washington Examiner reported.
Meyer said the lawyers for Roberts were seeking, and she plans to consider, “punishment or sanctions” against Biden, including “incarceration for civil contempt until such time as the defendant fully answers discovery for a period of up to six months” and “incarceration for criminal contempt for a period of up to six months”.
The judge noted further that Hunter Biden “is hereby given notice that his ‘ability to pay’ is or may become a critical issue in the contempt proceeding” and that he “will have an opportunity at the hearing to respond to statements and questions about his financial status”. Meyer added that Biden “is subject to an express finding by the court that he has the ability to pay”.
The Examiner added:
Navy Joan Roberts, the child in question, was born in Arkansas in August 2018. She was conceived during Hunter Biden’s relationship with Hallie Biden, who is the widow of his late brother, Beau Biden. President Joe Biden has never publicly acknowledged the existence of his granddaughter in his statements during his presidency.
Initially, Hunter Biden denied paternity and claimed to have no recollection of meeting the mother at the Mpire Club in Washington, D.C. However, in January 2020, a judge ruled that DNA test results provided strong evidence indicating that Hunter is the biological father of the child.
In 2020, Hunter reached a settlement of US$2.5 million with Roberts, but the case was subsequently reopened.
