President Joe Biden’s staff were reportedly expecting questions from the press about his estranged granddaughter during a recent visit to Helsinki, Finland, according to the Messenger. However, reporters were mum on the topic.
While the president continues to insist that he only has six grandchildren, pressure has been mounting on the president to acknowledge his seventh granddaughter, Navy Joan. Joan was born after Hunter Biden, the president's son, had a sexual encounter with a stripper, Lunden Alexis Roberts. Conservatives, and even some progressives, have criticized Biden for shunning the young girl. In light of these concerns, Biden’s aides prepped questions that help portray the commander in chief as "empathetic and human," the Messenger reported, though the media appear to have let the president off the hook, leaving the topic untouched.
Biden’s relationship with the media has differed from that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. News organizations, for instance, have provided lists of questions to the president in advance of press briefings, which some commentators have called a "cheat sheet." Additionally, CNN’s presidential fact checker, who intensely scrutinized Trump during his tenure, appears to be less eager to hold the new administration accountable, with fact checks of Biden being far more sparse despite there being ample material.
Biden’s lack of warmth toward his granddaughter is reportedly due to the president’s desire to appease his son, who had been involved in a protracted legal battle with the girl’s mother.
Hunter Biden’s philandering isn’t the only thing causing public image problems for his father. Congressional investigations have been dredging up evidence that increasingly points toward the elder Biden having knowledge of his son’s shady foreign business dealings, which the president had previously denied.