The mother of a 5-year-old daughter fathered out of wedlock by Hunter Biden has rushed to the defense of President Joe Biden's son, saying it is "cruel" that he has had to battle drug addiction "with a target on his back."
In a self-penned story published by the Daily Mail, Lunden Roberts, 32, wrote, "I'm probably the last person you might expect to leap to his defense. And yet that's precisely why I've decided to speak out.
"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," she wrote.
Hunter Biden has been the focus of an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans into allegations of criminal conduct by his father and other members of the Biden family. Hunter Biden was under investigation by the Department of Justice for five years regarding tax and gun crimes; and after a plea deal collapsed, he pleaded not guilty in October to three federal gun charges related to his statement on a federal form he filled out to purchase a Colt revolver five years ago that he was not a drug user.
Roberts reportedly met Hunter Biden, 53, at a strip club in Washington, D.C., around December 2017 and they soon engaged in an affair while he was still involved with his widowed sister-in-law Hallie Biden. Roberts was hired at his now-defunct investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, the Daily Mail reported, and she gave birth to Navy Joan in August 2018.
Biden at first refused to acknowledge the child was his until an Arkansas court demanded a paternity test. Biden agreed to pay Roberts $20,000 a month in child support, but neither he nor his father or first lady Jill Biden would acknowledge the child was his. In fact, it wasn't until July when the president acknowledged he had seven grandchildren, including Navy Joan.
"One day soon Navy Joan is going to be old enough to search the Internet seeing the countless newspaper articles dedicated to her father's transgressions and I cannot fathom how she may feel," Roberts said. "I have no desire to add to that. What kind of mom would want to pour more fuel on this fire?"
Roberts wrote she has never considered Hunter Biden to be a "deadbeat dad," even though he went to court in September 2022 to have his child support payments slashed because he said he didn't have the money. The two reached a settlement in June where, the Daily Mail reported, he would pay less child support but would give Navy Joan a selection of his paintings and commit to building a relationship with the fourth of his five children.
"I ask that people respect their privacy so that this treasured bond can continue to flourish," Roberts wrote. "There will be people who say, can this woman be for real? These people have never walked in my shoes. They've never met my daughter and they haven't spent a second thinking what is best for her.
"But that's exactly what Hunter and I did last summer. We set aside our differences and came together for the sake of our adorable little girl. That's why I'm 100% behind Hunter's recovery and his determination to become the loving father figure that all five of his children deserve."