Why it took four years for the Bidens to acknowledge their seventh grandchild

For the past four years, President Joe Biden and the first lady took cues from their son Hunter on how to discuss the 4-year-old girl in Arkansas a paternity test had determined was their granddaughter.

That meant saying nothing about her at all.

Initially Hunter Biden denied paternity, and later said he had no memory of fathering her at a low point in his life. Hunter Biden asked his parents not to publicly acknowledge the girl as a lengthy child support battle played out in an Arkansas court, according to sources familiar with the matter.

But in recent months, that stance became increasingly uncomfortable, at odds with President Biden’s image as a loving family man and subject to criticism from his political rivals. The president began looking for the right opportunity to break the silence.

“They were following Hunter’s wishes. It’s hard to do that without throwing your son under the bus,” said one person involved in internal discussions about the matter.

Last week, the Bidens publicly acknowledged their grandchild, Navy Joan Roberts, for the first time ever. Significant as the moment was for the family, the Bidens played it low-key – issuing their statement late on a Friday evening, when most people have shut down their news consumption for the week. Likewise, President Biden made his first public utterance an oblique one; casually and without comment, he changed the count of grandchildren from six to seven in a podcast taped last week and released Monday.

But navigating these complicated family dynamics has always been a sensitive subject for political aides. The topic is particularly fraught when it comes to the Bidens, who are fiercely protective of their son and have shown little willingness in the past to accept political advice when it comes to their family, according to current and former officials.

Prior to…