Gotta Name It To Claim It
This is a story not so much about a political issue itself…but what it can tell us about other issues involving one of the parties that do have a tie to national security and politics.
Yes, this is another Hunter Biden story.
The president’s son, who turns 53 next month, was judicially determined to be the father of a now four-year-old girl, named Navy Joan Roberts. The child’s mother is a now 31-year-old named Lunden Roberts. At the time she was pregnant, Ms. Roberts was on the payroll of Hunter Biden’s D.C. consulting firm; her prior job was as a stripper, and that is how she and Hunter Biden met—at her other workplace.
Mr. Biden filed a court action last fall, seeking to have his child support obligation for the girl reduced because of a change in his circumstances. Now that is the normal standard in such court actions…if there is a material and substantial change in circumstances not contemplated when the prior court orders were issued, a court can re-evaluate and increase or decrease the child support.
In response, Ms. Roberts filed a motion seeking to change the child’s last name…from her name of Roberts, to his name of Biden. Neither Hunter nor the child’s grandfather, the president, has ever had contact with the child. Ms. Roberts’ lawyer says young Navy would “benefit from carrying the Biden family name,” which he said was “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.”
Hunter is trying to block that move, claiming in court that the child should at some later point decide the name issue for herself, once “the disparagement of the Biden name is not at its height.” The child’s mother’s lawyer says giving the child the Biden name will open opportunities for the girl “just like it has for other members of the Biden family.” But Hunter’s side says it’s just looking out for the little girl, asserting the Biden name is a lightning rod for criticism and would rob the child of a “peaceful existence.”
The whole nature of the legal action is rather sordid, worthy of note only because if Hunter Biden acts in this manner in a court proceeding like this, what does it say about his judgment in other matters—like residing at a home where classified documents are stored in the garage? With all this swirling around, why start a legal proceeding to have your financial support lowered for a child you have already abandoned in every other respect? Why draw that attention to yourself?
That’s the takeaway with respect to all these other matters. Annoying at so many levels, especially when you consider that this legal tug-of-war is going on, with the innocent four-year-old girl being the one at risk of harm.
