Hunter Biden has reportedly reached a deal with the mother of his child, although the details remain in dispute and leaks could scuttle the settlement and throw the case back into court.
The New York Post reported Tuesday afternoon, citing “a source close to the first son,” that Mr. Biden and former stripper Lunden Roberts had settled their disputes over their 4-year-old daughter Navy Joan Roberts.
The Post first reported that the deal will slash his monthly child-support payments by more than 75% — from $20,000 to less than $5,000 — and has Ms. Roberts agree to drop her legal bid to change the girl’s surname to “Biden.”
After the story was pulled from the Post website for some hours, it was updated to include comment from Ms. Roberts’ attorney.
Clint Lancaster said final terms were still to be determined and declined to confirm the $5,000 report.
“The case is sealed, and these are financial terms that should never be disclosed,” he said, warning to the Post that leaks about settlement details could result in Mr. Biden being back in an Arkansas court on July 11.
The report came the same day the president’s son agreed to a plea deal on federal tax and weapons crimes that will avoid jail time, an agreement Republicans blasted as a “sweetheart deal.”
Mr. Biden had asked the court in Batesville, Ark., to reduce the child support last year, citing a decline in income. The Post first reported that the deal was reached in a private conversation between Mr. Biden and his ex-lover last week in Arkansas.
“It was significant that Lunden was there” at that deposition, Mr. Lancaster told the Post. “I believe that settlement is important to Hunter Biden [but] we have concerns that Hunter would use [the settlement] as a means to promote some agenda of his.”
The first son, who has admitted to being a drug addict, initially denied paternity, but DNA tests proved he was the girl’s father.
He still claims no recollection of the liaison, and President Biden has never acknowledged his seventh grandchild.
Mr. Lancaster, the Roberts attorney, noted that “it’s not lost on anybody that Jill Biden wrote a children’s book and [dedicated it] to her grandchildren. She could have kept it at that, but she named every child except Navy.
“They hung stockings for the dog at Christmas, but not for Navy. That is one of the saddest things,” he added.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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