BATESVILLE, Arkansas—Hunter Biden swept into this town of 11,000 on Monday, under a judge’s order to attend a hearing in his paternity case. Waiting for him were a dozen local residents, a forest of TV cameras, and a judge who was not buying excuses from him—or from the former stripper who had his 4-year-old daughter.
President Joe Biden’s son is seeking to lower the amount of support he pays to Lunden Roberts, and his lawyer revealed he has already shelled out $750,000. But the stakes in the case go beyond that. Roberts is seeking a mountain of documentation about Biden’s finances, some of it related to his controversial business dealings overseas.
Independence County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer last week ordered Biden, who has acknowledged paternity of the child, to appear in person at future hearings. That came after Lunden Roberts, the mother of their child born in 2018, accused Hunter Biden of violating numerous court orders and intentionally withholding key evidence. She also asked the judge to hold him in contempt and send him to jail until he complies.
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That didn’t happen.
Meyer denied the motion for contempt, saying that Roberts’ attorneys, Clint and Jennifer Lancaster, a married couple, needed to be more specific and show cause. She called Biden’s actions “discovery squabbles” and not an act of contempt.
Camera crews staked out the courthouse as early as 7 a.m. for the 9 a.m. hearing. At 8:40 a.m., Biden entered the courtroom in a black suit along with his attorneys, Brent Langdon of Texarkana, Texas, and Abbe Lowell, who previously represented Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and four Secret Service agents.
Roberts’ family and parents sat in the front row with Garrett Ziegler, a former aide to Donald Trump. He is a point of controversy in the case; Roberts' attorneys want him as an “expert” witness while Biden's team questions his credentials.
Before the hearing began, Lowell walked over to Ziegler, shaking his hand and saying, “You've had a lot to say about me. I thought I'd come over and say hi.”
During the two-hour hearing, Judge Meyer made both parties address any documents that were missing that are needed before a pre-trial hearing on May 23.
Meyer at times seemed frustrated that both sides were slow to provide requested information, including Ziegler’s curriculum vitae.
“We don’t have any information that you couldn't get on the World Wide Web,” Langdon protested.
But it was missing documents about Hunter Biden's finances and art collection that consumed the most time during the hearing.
Clint Lancaster cited a laundry list of documents needed from Biden that included his vehicle ownership for the last five years, the valuation of his sold and unsold art, and details about his arrangement with Kevin Morris.
Morris, a founder and managing partner of the Morris Yorn Entertainment Law Firm, is a close friend of Biden's who has allegedly helped him with selling art and loaned money to him, Lancaster said.
Lowell and Langford argued the relevance of Biden’s art business and said he doesn't know everyone who owns his art.
“You can subpoena the gallery owner,” the judge told Roberts’ team.
Lancaster also wants documents regarding all money Morris has paid Biden. Biden’s attorneys argued against it, saying it was from a friend.
“That's a pretty lame response,” the judge declared.
Lancaster is also demanding more documents related to Biden's investments—all “money and currencies” related to any foreign entity, including China and Ukraine.
Meyer said the Biden team’s suggestion that Roberts’ lawyers could just look at his bank returns didn’t cut it. She said the response was akin to saying, “Good luck and figure it out.”
Lancaster also wants a list of all of Biden’s airplane trips, including commercial and private planes, and the names of those who covered the travel costs—along with details about any partnerships he is in, including one with a Chinese investment firm.
Lowell argued that Biden may not have all of the documents concerning partnerships if they involved multiple parties—but the judge suggested he get up to speed. “This cryptic-type ballgame isn't going to cut it when it goes to trial,” Meyer said.
Meyer didn't cut Roberts any slack, either.
The judge ordered her to release tax documents from 2015 to 2020 and her return for 2022. She has to list all fringe benefits she has received from her father's business, Rob Roberts Custom Gunworks; five years of bank statements; a credit report; and all electronic communication with anyone other than her attorneys about Biden.
Both parties tried to avoid committing to deposition dates and requested the July trial move to August.
“We aren't leaving today without dates,” Meyer said.
A pre-trial hearing is set for May 23. Party and witness depositions, including Ziegler's, will occur in mid-June in Little Rock. For now, the trial is scheduled for July 24 in Batesville.
This case was closed until last September when Biden asked the judge to reduce his child support payments. He told the court that there had been “a substantial material change in (his) financial circumstances” since the 2020 settlement.
As Biden exited the courtroom, he shook Clint Lancaster's hand with a big grin and a pat on the shoulder.
“How's your wife?” Lancaster asked.
“Good,” Biden said, smiling.
Lancaster asked Biden about South Africa.
“You should know, you have my travel records,” Biden said.
Biden and Roberts did not speak.
For Batesville, a town of 11,000 that leans heavily conservative, the child support case is a “three-ring circus” in the words of one local who watched Biden slip into a black SUV after the hearing.
“We've never had anything like this,” she said, snapping pictures of the caravan as it zoomed out of the parking lot escorted by state police.
