After refusing to recognize his seventh grandchild Navy, US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden have finally endorsed her as their grandchild. With this endorsement, Navy onwards should be known as Navy Biden.
According to an exclusive report published in PEOPLE, Joe Biden has offered his first statement on 4-year-old grandchild Navy, the daughter of Hunter Biden Biden and Lunden Roberts, an Arkansas woman who filed a paternity suit against the president’s son in May 2019.
“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”, Joe Biden said.
Navy [Biden], one of the US president’s seven grandchildren, has recently been the subject of headlines as Republicans have criticized the president for previously touting his “six grandchildren”.
“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” President Biden’s statement continues. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy”.
A source familiar with the situation tells PEOPLE that the recently resolved child support dispute between Hunter and Lunden has dictated how the relationship has played out so far.
“You have to remember there were some fairly contentious legal proceedings between Navy’s parents happening until just a few weeks ago. As grandparents, the Bidens are following Hunter’s lead”, the source says, adding, “They are — and have been — giving Hunter and Lunden the space and time to figure things out”.
The legal dispute between Lunden and Hunter worked its way through Arkansas courts for more than four years and led to a November 2019 ruling that, despite his denials, Hunter did father the child (which was confirmed with a DNA test).
Joe Biden denied Navy
In April, Biden listed six of the grandchildren by name during a “take your child to work day” event at the White House.
He said at the time: “I have six grandchildren, and I’m crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. Not a joke”.
Fox News added: “Biden has also put up Christmas stockings at the White House for six of the grandchildren, but has repeatedly left his seventh grandchild out of the annual tradition. But as Biden seeks re-election in 2024 and as the speculation into Hunter’s foreign business dealings ramps up, the president has decided to more publicly embrace his son, Hunter, and grandson, Beau, bringing them to Camp David for the last two weekends in a row”.
The Bidens were ripped online following the Times’ damning report, with some calling the situation “gross” and “sad”.
Another called the Bidens “monsters”.
Chad Gilmartin, a deputy spokesman for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), noted on Twitter: “Joe Biden ‘has not yet met or publicly mentioned his other grandchild. His White House has not answered questions about whether he will publicly acknowledge her’ ‘[A]ides have been told that the Bidens have six, not seven, grandchildren’ So sad”.
Jake Schneider with RNC Research added, “Joe Biden and Jill, Ed.D., are two of the scummiest people to have ever disgraced American politics. Just awful human beings”.
Duke University Prof. Timur Kuran noted as well: “Set aside politics and put yourself in the shoes of this 4-year-old. ‘She’s aware that her father is Hunter Biden and that her paternal grandfather is US president. She speaks about both often, but she has not met them.’ No one should do this to a child”.
“These people are monsters”, added CNN commentator and former George W. Bush administration official Scott Jennings.
“We are a year away from ‘I wish I could meet my grandpa’ interviews. Hell of an October surprise’, journalist David Marcus noted as well.
