MSNBC Reports Live From Delaware On Biden 7th Grandchild Navy Roberts — Wonder ‘How This Plays Out On The 2024 Campaign Trail’
MSNBC’s Allie Raffa filed a live report on President Joe Biden publicly recognizing Navy Roberts — Hunter Biden’s child outside of marriage — as his 7th grandchild, and wondering how it will “play out” politically.
After waiting for contentious disputes between his son and Lunden Roberts to be settled, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden issued a statement publicly acknowledging Navy Roberts in an exclusive for People Magazine:
“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,” President Biden said in a statement provided exclusively to PEOPLE.
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“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” President Biden’s statement continues. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”
But on Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports, host Alex Witt tossed live to Delaware for Raffa’s report, which included background from a “source familiar” and an extremely personal attack from a Republican rival:
ALEX WITT: A first for President Biden, the president and first lady now publicly acknowledging their seventh grandchild, grandchild, rather, four-year-old Navy, a little girl who Hunter Biden fathered with an Arkansas woman several years ago. NBC’s Allie Raffa is in Rehoboth Beach with more on what the Bidens are saying, Allie.
ALLIE RAFFA: Alex, the president has never shared his reasoning for not publicly acknowledging this little girl. But a source familiar with the family’s situation tells NBC News he’s avoided doing so until now to give his son and the girl’s mother the time and space to navigate this.
The Biden family is officially a little bit larger. The president and first lady acknowledging for the first time that they have a seventh grandchild, a four-year-old girl named Navi, who their son Hunter fathered out of wedlock during the peak of his battle with drug addiction. Navy’s mother, Lunden Roberts, a former exotic dancer, are settling a year-long paternity and child support dispute with Hunter in the Arkansas courts last month. The first couple releasing a statement Friday saying, quote, “Our son, Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter.”.
Adding, “This is not a political issue. It’s a family matter.”.
In April, President Biden told a group of children at the White House.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: I have six grandchildren and I’m crazy about them.
ALLIE RAFFA: The president and first lady proudly displaying monogrammed stockings of family members in the White House each Christmas since taking office, including Hunter’s four other children, but not his fifth. The White House up until now avoiding the topic.
REPORTER: Does the president acknowledge this little girl as his granddaughter?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t have anything to share from here.
ALLIE RAFFA: Republican presidential candidates seizing on the silence as opportunities to attack the president.
RON DESANTIS: Why don’t you spend some time with your granddaughter in Arkansas or at least recognize her existence before you start worrying about our kids?
ALLIE RAFFA: The president, who’s always made his family a very public part of his life, now asking to preserve this little girl’s privacy. So at this point, it’s still unclear whether the family dynamics change at all, as well as more broadly how this plays out on the 2024 campaign trail. Alex.
REPORTER: We shall see.
Watch above via MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports.
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