President Biden has for the first time publicly referenced his seventh grandchild, Navy Roberts, who was born to Hunter Biden and his former mistress, Lunden Alexis Roberts, yet it’s far from clear if the child will be welcomed into the Biden family fold, even as the New York Times reports that the president has “told his son that he wanted to meet Navy when the time was right.” 

The president’s comments acknowledging the grandchild came during a podcast appearance with lifestyle coach Jay Shetty. “I have seven grandkids — five of them old enough to talk on the phone,” Mr. Biden said. His eldest son Beau, who died in 2015, has two children. Hunter Biden has three by his first wife, one by his second wife, and a fourth, Navy, by Ms. Roberts, a former stripper.

Mr. Biden fils met Ms. Roberts, the New York Post has reported, at the strip club Mpire at Washington, D.C. in 2017, at a time when he was abusing drugs. Ms. Roberts, the Post said, “danced under the stage name ‘Dallas'” while she was a student in college. Hunter Biden wrote in his recent addiction memoir that he has no recollection of Ms. Roberts.

Previously, the elder Mr. Biden had refused to acknowledge Navy in public, saying often that he only had six grandchildren even though the girl’s paternity had been confirmed in 2020. 

This comes after the White House acknowledged Navy for the first time in a statement to People Magazine attributed to Mr. Biden and the first lady. On Friday evening, the outlet broke the news that Mr. Biden would now refer to his “seven grandchildren” going forward.  

“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,” said the first couple’s statement to People. “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.”

According to Politico, the Bidens finally yielded to pressure after liberal press outlets, especially the Times, recently began publishing coverage supportive of Navy after years of ignoring the issue. “It’s Seven Grandkids, Mr. President,” was the headline on a column by the Times’ Maureen Dowd on July 8.

“The White House is framing this as the natural result of the end of a contentious custody battle,” Politico wrote. “But it looks much more like typical Biden world political efficiency. They respond to political blindspots when they become major issues, which happened in this case as a result of Rogers’ reporting and a tough column from Maureen Dowd. One of the old Washington norms Biden still adheres to is respecting elite opinion about him.” 

The elder Mr. Biden’s acknowledgment of Navy comes after a yearslong dispute between her parents which began with the younger Mr. Biden denying the child was his at all after she was born in 2018.  

Mr. Biden is said to have stopped speaking to Ms. Roberts during her pregnancy. “Baby was born [August] 28,” Ms. Roberts wrote in a text message to Mr. Biden shortly after the child’s birth in 2018. “Beautiful & Healthy. If you ever become curious and want to know more I can send pictures, details, or whatever you may request. I know that’s a long shot and you’d much rather avoid the whole situation, but just wanted you to know the door is always open for you in the baby’s life.” 

Mr. Biden never responded to that text message. According to text messages mined from his notorious laptop, he shortly thereafter ordered his assistant to remove Mr. Roberts from his personal payroll, thereby cutting off her health insurance.

In 2019, Ms. Roberts filed what would become an increasingly acrimonious child support lawsuit against the first son, which resulted in the confirmation of his paternity in 2020.  Mr. Biden then began paying Ms. Roberts $20,000 a month in child support until he sued to have the amount lowered due to diminished income

On multiple occasions throughout the lawsuit to reduce his payments, Ms. Roberts’s legal team asked the court to jail the first son for failing to turn over relevant financial information to prove he had fallen on hard times. Ultimately, the warring parties resolved the matter around the same time Mr. Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of tax evasion, which would later be delayed by a federal judge. 

In their settlement, Mr. Biden agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to Ms. Roberts — though the New York Post has reported it is $5,000 — until Navy’s graduation from high school as well as bequeathing to her a number of pieces of artwork he paints. Navy herself will choose the paintings. Mr. Biden’s artwork has recently been selling for large sums. 

Mr. Biden will also fund Navy’s health insurance and contribute to paying for her college education. In return, Ms. Roberts agreed to drop her lawsuit that would have allowed her to change Navy’s last name to Biden.