Biden called out for finally acknowledging 7th grandchild in 'Friday night news dump'

OutKick columnist Mary Katharine Ham called out President Biden for finally acknowledging his seventh grandchild, Hunter's daughter Navy, during the "Friday night news dump" in a statement to People Magazine. Ham noted the timing of the long-awaited statement came when there would be the "least amount of news coverage" during "The Faulkner Focus." 

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MARY KATHARINE HAM: That was a Friday night news dump during the summer, which is the least amount of news coverage you're possibly going to get for acknowledging the granddaughter that you have not in the past. Second, when they say this is a private matter, the reason that this became public, and I followed it for a while before I wrote that column, is that Hunter Biden went to court proactively paying much, much money many, many thousands of dollars to lawyers and many and taking many private jet excursions to Arkansas to fight the mother of his child, who we knew we had DNA, that that was the that was his child, to deny her child support. He was fighting this really, really hard in court. That's how it became a story. And it does seem to me that this is an unforced error from the Bidens. The Bidens could have easily from the beginning said, I know that this is a little bit complicated, but we welcome all children. She's a gift to us. That was not what they did. For three years, they didn't deal with this, even though we knew that she definitely was Hunter Biden's child. This is not a question and this is one of those 'Am I taking crazy pills' moments for me with the press where I was looking around like, is no one going to talk about this? Because I feel like this is verified, and maybe we should talk about it. So I'm glad that they've come to this conclusion, but it's not in the most elegant way possible, to say the least.

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Biden spoke out publicly for the first time about his granddaughter, Navy Joan Roberts, the estranged daughter of his son Hunter Biden who he had previously not acknowledged.

"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," Biden said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter," he added. "Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy."

Biden and First Lady Jill Biden had repeatedly refused to acknowledge Navy, frequently omitting her by claiming they only have "four granddaughters."

December 2022 marked the second Christmas season in a row that the White House left Navy out of a Christmas stocking display, and before that, in 2020, Biden incorrectly said he and First Lady Jill Biden had five grandchildren, forgetting about then-newborn Beau Biden, but completely leaving out Navy.

At a White House "take your child to work day" event in April, Biden claimed to only have six grandchildren. "I have six grandchildren, and I’m crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. Not a joke," he said.

Earlier this month, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shut down a reporter's question concerning Navy, saying she didn't "have anything to share."

In June, Hunter settled his Arkansas child support case with Roberts' mother, Lunden Alexis Roberts, ending a years-long paternity dispute. A court filing showed Hunter agreed to give his daughter some of his paintings, and the mother of the child agreed to withdraw her counterclaim to change their child's last name to "Biden."

Fox News' Brandon Gillespie and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

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