Jonathan Turley: The Biden family refuses to acknowledge Hunter's 4-year-old daughter
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley weighs in ahead of Hunter Biden's expected court appearance as he seeks to lower his child support payments.
On Monday, Hunter Biden will finally make it to Arkansas. The Natural State itself is not a favorite Biden family destination but there is one thing that would ordinarily be an attraction: Biden's daughter Navy Joan.
In the Biden family, the 4-year-old girl remains "she who shall not be named" literally. Not only has President Biden refused to refer to her as a grandchild or even include a Christmas stocking with the other children, her father Hunter is fighting to prevent her from using the Biden name. Indeed, the only reason that Hunter is coming to the same state that his daughter lives in is to seek to reduce his child support.
The viciousness of the Biden family in dealing with this little girl is only matched by that of the media. Reporters who profess to support women and denounce deadbeat dads have either ignored this story or belittled her mother Lunden Roberts.
Roberts is widely dismissed as a "former stripper." That appears to be how she met Hunter, but it is often used to paint her in the same way that the media gleefully reported on former first lady Hillary Clinton denouncing the women who were involved with her husband as mere "bimbo eruptions."
The reason the media ignores Roberts is that it wants to ignore what the Bidens have done.
Hunter Biden and wife Melissa Cohen with their son Beau stroll along South Carolina's Kiawah Island. (mom&paparazzi for Fox News Digital)
Yes, Roberts was an exotic dancer. She used that job to go to one of the most expensive colleges in the country, George Washington University, where I teach.
The reason the media ignores Navy Joan's mother Lunden Roberts is that it wants to ignore what the Bidens have done.
When she became pregnant, she decided to have her child and raise her on her own. She has raised this child without a father and fought one of the most powerful families in the world.
When Navy Joan is older, there is every reason for her to be proud of the struggle that her mother went through in seeking a college education and raising her against all odds.
Despite Joe Biden long campaigning against deadbeat dads, his son had refused to acknowledge that he was the father of Navy Joan. After a court forced him to confirm his paternity through DNA testing, he continued to fight paying support for his child. Hunter's delay and evasion of filings and depositions led a court to repeatedly threaten sanctions.
However, the effort to bar this child from using the Biden name has moved this scandal from the realm of hypocrisy to monstrosity.
It is hard to imagine the pain that this child will experience upon learning of how the Bidens erased any reference to her and fought even her ability to claim to be a member of their family. (Even the Bidens' dogs and cats got stockings at Christmas but not their granddaughter Navy Joan, whom they have never asked to even see, let alone support.)
After opposing efforts to even establish that he is her father and his continued effort to limit child support, Hunter is telling the court that he would not want the child to bear his name for her own good and to guarantee her a "peaceful existence."
If one were to combine all of Hunter's influence peddling, drug abuse, orgies and prostitution controversies, they would not hold a candle to the utter depravity shown toward this little girl.
Despite assembling a new Legion of Doom of high-priced lawyers and advisers, Hunter is claiming that he simply cannot meet demands for child support.
Hunter Biden embraces his wife, Melissa Cohen,, as their son Beau plays in the ocean. (mom&paparazzi for Fox News Digital)
Given his opposition to such support for years and reported millions in foreign dealings, it would seem transparently absurd.
It is even more difficult to accept this excuse as he jets between his luxurious mansion in Malibu to digs at the White House. The public reportedly pays more for his security in his mansion than he does for monthly support for his daughter.
There is, however, a crushing karmic aspect to Hunter being forced to appear in Arkansas. His efforts to limit his child support may have backfired and could prove costly.
HUNTER BIDEN'S CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DAD'S NEW CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIR REVEALED IN LAPTOP EMAILS
Hunter has struggled to conceal his finances, including money that he received from alleged influence peddling. Now the court is considering the laptop as possible evidence in millions of past assets. While a U.S. Attorney in Delaware is exploring criminal charges and House committees are looking into the influence peddling, his fight against this toddler could force a decision on the authenticity of the laptop.
In the last hearing, Hunter's counsel tried again to maintain deniability.
Here is the exchange after Judge Meyer referenced Garrett Ziegle as a potential expert witness on the contents of the laptop:
Langdon: "There has never been, to my knowledge, an acknowledgment that this so-called laptop — he continuously calls it Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop ..."
Meyer: "Well, let's clear that issue up right now. Is it your client's laptop or not?"
Langdon: "Your honor, I'm not involved in all of that stuff. It's not my client's laptop as far as I know."
...
Meyer: "Is it your client's position, you're representing to this court, that it is not his laptop?"
Langdon: "Your honor, I am not in a position to even begin to answer that question."
It is bizarre to continue this obfuscation years after the release of the laptop. Hunter is facing the use of the laptop as evidence in this case as well as the federal prosecution and House investigations. Yet, his counsel is still claiming ignorance as to whether it is authentic.
It is the continuation of a long campaign of disinformation. Before the 2020 election, the media repeated the false claim that the Hunter Biden laptop was likely "Russian disinformation."
Despite the denial of American intelligence and self-verifying emails on the laptop, the media accepted without question the dubious claims of former intelligence figures organized by longtime Democratic operatives.
It worked beautifully.
It was not until two years later that NPR, the New York Times and other legacy media outlets got around to telling the public the truth.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
Hunter has long refused to acknowledge ownership of the laptop. When asked years ago by CBS News, about its authenticity, he shrugged and said, "There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the — that it was Russian intelligence."
In some ways, it is a continuation of Hunter's long denial of his child’s paternity. Yet, the DNA did not lie.
Hunter could now be forced to accept this laptop as his own. That could prove far more costly than the child support that he is seeking to avoid in Arkansas.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
None of this, of course, will get Navy Joan a stocking on next year's Biden family fireplace. According to Joe Biden, she is not one of his grandchildren despite being fathered by his own son.
Nor will this make Hunter Biden a better person. However, if she succeeds in using the Biden family name, she will certainly prove the best of the lot.
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.