Hunter Biden appeared in Arkansas for a court-ordered deposition about his finances on Friday as part of a child support battle with the mother of one of his daughters.
Judge Holly Meyer, who is handling the case, ruled in May that Biden and Lunden Roberts would need to sit for depositions in June, when Biden would need to answer questions about his income.
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Biden has been ordered to answer inquiries about his finances, including all of his investments, his art sales, and other relevant financial transactions.
The child, Navy Roberts, was born in Arkansas in August 2018. The child was conceived while Hunter was in a relationship with Hallie Biden, his brother Beau Biden’s widow, and has been living with her mother. President Joe Biden has repeatedly ignored the existence of his granddaughter in public statements while president.
Clinton Lancaster, a lawyer for Roberts, told the Arkansas court on Thursday that “plaintiff’s attorneys will take the deposition of the defendant, Hunter Biden,” in front of a certified court reporter on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. The court filing indicated the recorded and transcribed deposition would take place at a “secure location” in the Stephens Building in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas.
Roberts reportedly showed up to witness Hunter Biden’s deposition on Friday, and she was also deposed in the case at the same building on Wednesday.
The Arkansas judge has also ordered Biden to appear in court in person in July to face contempt proceedings and even possible jail time for allegedly concealing his finances in the child support battle.
The new deposition comes after a confidential FBI informant relayed that Mykola Zlochevsky, the Ukrainian owner of Burisma, allegedly funneled $5 million to Joe Biden when he was vice president and $5 million to Hunter Biden in an alleged “bribery scheme.”
Amid the threat of being held in contempt of Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray allowed members of the GOP-led House Oversight Committee to review an FD-1023 form last week that contained the allegations from the informant in June 2020.
In addition, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed a less redacted version of the form and said it shows Zlochevsky claimed to have 17 recordings of his conversations with Joe and Hunter Biden as an “insurance policy.”
Hunter Biden’s finances are key to the reopened paternity case. The president’s son is seeking to lower his $20,000 monthly payments to Roberts.
Biden business partner and fellow Burisma board member Devon Archer also did not meet the initial subpoena deadline of Friday to appear before the House Oversight Committee, but Republicans believe he’ll soon sit down for questioning on the Bidens’ business arrangements.
Biden revealed he was under federal investigation for his taxes shortly after the 2020 election. Republicans have long contended Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China indicate he may have committed crimes related to foreign lobbying or money laundering, although recent reports indicate U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-appointed holdover and the Delaware prosecutor overseeing the case, may have narrowed his focus to Biden potentially committing tax fraud and lying on a federal gun form when purchasing a revolver.
IRS whistleblowers have come forward to allege the investigation has been mishandled and politicized.
Biden initially denied paternity and any memory of meeting the mother at the Mpire Club in the nation’s capital, but the judge said in January 2020 that the court “finds the results of the DNA tests indicate with near scientific certainty that the defendant is the biological father of the child in this case.” Biden settled with Roberts for $2.5 million in 2020, but the case was later reopened, and the president’s son is engaged in an Arkansas court battle to lower his payments.
Meyer issued another order in June saying Biden must appear on July 10 at the Independence County Courthouse in Batesville to explain “why he should not be held in contempt” after lawyers for Roberts argued that Biden was ignoring the judge’s May order to hand over information on his finances.
Lancaster filed the motion for sanctions and contempt with the court in May, arguing that “the defendant was ordered to do something, and he did not” and “that is a habit and a game for Mr. Biden.”
“Right now, Mr. Biden does not want to disclose his income and assets, says that he is somewhat financially destitute, while he lives on a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, has Secret Service protection, and enjoys his time abroad (which he has also lied about in discovery),” Lancaster added in May.
In December 2022, lawyers for Roberts filed to change the surname of her 4-year-old daughter to “Biden” and argued the Biden name is “now synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.” Biden’s lawyers have sought to block his daughter from taking on the family’s last name.
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Although Biden appeared in the Arkansas town courtroom in May at the judge’s orders, he did not speak. A trial to figure out whether what he owes can be adjusted is scheduled for July.
Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell told the court in May that he is paying $20,000 a month in child support, with the attorney adding that Biden had already paid $750,000 in child support thus far.
