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A state judge in Arkansas ripped first son Hunter Biden during a court-ordered appearance on Monday, accusing him of attempting to conceal his income in a child support case involving a daughter he fathered with a former adult entertainer he met in the Washington D.C. area.
“Judge Holly Meyer rebuked the 53-year-old’s legal team during the two-hour proceedings, saying they wrongly concealed details of filings that had already been submitted to the court as part of the ongoing legal saga,” the New York Post reported.
“The ability to redact is somewhat being abused,” Meyer told Biden’s lawyers before she ordered them to refile some related documents.
The Post noted that it was unclear what financial data was included in the ordered filing.
Biden appeared in the Batesville courtroom to request a reduction in his monthly payments for his 4-year-old daughter with ex-stripper Lunden Roberts. As part of the case, Biden was asked to provide documentation regarding his financial situation after he reopened his paternity case in September 2020 in an effort to lower his $20,000 monthly payment, The Post said.
Biden, who has never met his daughter with ex-stripper Lunden Roberts, alleged he had experienced a “substantial material change” in his income. Meyer ordered Hunter to answer additional written questions about his investments, art sales, and other financial transactions after Roberts’ attorney, Clinton Lancaster, claimed he had provided “incomplete answers.” Lancaster argued that Hunter had not disclosed who had purchased his art or the estimated values of the pieces, the outlet reported.
Biden’s lawyers responded to the claims of incomplete answers made by Lunden Roberts’ attorney, stating that the first son did not know the identities of the buyers of his art pieces as part of an arrangement to prevent their influence on his father’s administration.
“He will not know. Someone else may know,” one of Biden’s attorneys told the judge.
Meyer then informed Lancaster that she could “issue a subpoena” to force the gallery to reveal the names of buyers and prices they paid for Hunter’s art, adding: “It’s a little incredible that there is no estimate of valuations.”
Meyer ordered both Biden and Roberts to sit for a deposition in mid-June and answer questions under oath.
The legal battle between them began in 2019 when Roberts filed a paternity suit after Hunter initially denied fathering their daughter during their short relationship. After a DNA test confirmed that Navy Joan was indeed his daughter, Hunter began paying $20,000 per month in child support, which his lawyers say adds up to $750,000.
Roberts had accused Hunter of withholding evidence and asked the court to hold him in contempt until he complied.
“When the first son asked the court in September to reduce his monthly payments, it allowed Roberts to reopen the discovery process and demand the financial records,” The Post reported. “The judge had already ruled that any financial records Hunter submits to the court would be shielded from the public view.”
Meanwhile, Roberts’ attorneys disputed Hunter’s claims of financial hardship, stating in court filings that he is living a lavish lifestyle.
“He travels the world on the safest and most comfortable airplane in existence — Air Force One,” Lancaster wrote. “He also has some of the most expensive attorneys on planet Earth.”
Meyer ordered Hunter to appear last week.
The order came “despite his attorneys’ effort to keep him out of the courtroom for a contempt hearing in a child support and paternity case,” Newsweek reported on Saturday.
Biden’s lawyers attempted to keep him from physically appearing in court by asking the judge if he could appear remotely via video or phone. However, Independence County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer rejected this request, stating that “all parties are to physically appear,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on Friday.
The judge also warned that “the court will enforce those orders” for all involved parties.
One of Biden’s lawyers, Brent Langdon, had argued that his client should be allowed to appear remotely, citing “time, expense, logistical challenges and especially the media event any in-person hearing would create.” But Meyer rejected those arguments.
