Not a ‘deadbeat dad’: Mother of President Biden's seventh grandchild comes to Hunter's defense

WASHINGTON ― Lunden Roberts, the mother of Hunter Biden's 5-year-old old daughter who sued and later settled with the president's son over child support, is coming to his defense amid continued Republican scrutiny.

In a surprising twist, Roberts vouches for the 53-year-old Hunter Biden's character and love for their daughter, Navy Joan, in a new op-ed published Thursday by the British tabloid The Daily Mail. She also asks that her family be given privacy.

"Having gone to court with Hunter in a much-publicized child support case, I’m probably the last person you might expect to leap to his defense," Roberts writes. "And yet that’s precisely why I’ve decided to speak out."

Roberts had previously said little publicly about her relationship with Hunter, which came to a head this summer when President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden publicly acknowledged Navy for the first time.

President Biden's refusal to discuss his seventh grandchild faced widespread criticism and undercut his public image as a family man even as he has tried to support his son's recovery from substance use disorder.

Roberts, who resides in Batesville Ark. with her daughter, settled with Hunter Biden in June after he agreed to pay child support that was later disclosed to be $20,000 a month for a total of $750,000.

"I've never written him off as a ‘deadbeat dad’ because I know Hunter, I’ve witnessed the kind of person he is and the love he has for his children and people in general," Roberts says in the op-ed.

She recalled one time in which Hunter took off his jacket to put around a homeless boy in the street because it was snowing, then walked back in the cold in a t-shirt.

"One thing is certain, Navy Joan is so proud of Hunter, not because he's a Biden, but because he is her dad," Roberts says.

Hunter Biden initially said he had no recollection of his encounter with Roberts. But following a DNA test, an Arkansas judge ruled in 2020 that Biden was the girl’s biological father.

Hunter Biden has long been a top target of Republicans, and his foreign business dealings are now the subject of impeachment inquiry hearings against President Biden. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to federal guns charges and remains the subject of a special counsel investigation.

Hunter Biden has a well-documented substance use disorder. He has blamed Republicans for "the weaponization of my addiction" in a USA Today op-ed published this month.

"Yes, he’s led a privileged life, but Hunter has also lived in the public eye with political opponents who seize upon his mistakes and use his addiction against him," Roberts says in her op-ed.

Roberts adds that she's experienced the same "but the hurtful things that have been written about me are nothing in comparison to how Hunter has been portrayed."

She says she "cannot fathom" how their daughter will feel when she's old enough to search the internet and read the countless stories written about her "father's transgressions."

"I have no desire to add to that. What kind of mom would want to pour more fuel on this fire?" Robert writes. "I've seen what addiction can do to people and I think it's cruel that Hunter has had to go through recovery with a target on his back."

Roberts does not say whether her daughter has met President Biden. She gave birth to Navy in 2018, and Roberts filed a paternity suit against him a year later in Arkansas.

Roberts previously asked the court to change the girl’s last name to Biden, arguing taking on her father’s name “would greatly impact and preserve her legacy as a member of the Biden family.” She dropped that push as part of the settlement, however.

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mother of Biden's 7th grandchild Lunden Roberts defends Hunter