NBC's Chuck Todd accuses GOP of trying to 'exploit' Biden over not acknowledging his 7th grandchild
Todd dismissed the NYT's Maureen Dowd's column calling out the president for his lack of acknowledgement
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC host Chuck Todd claimed the GOP was trying to "exploit" President Biden over his refusal to acknowledge his seventh grandchild and said Republicans were using Hunter Biden to beat up the president.
Todd brought up New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and her "tough piece" on the president and his refusal to acknowledge his seventh grandchild at the very end of "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"I think we all understand the personal challenge and concern and all of these things that the president has here, but his political foes see this and they’re trying to exploit. There is no doubt, every day DeSantis and Trump try to use this to beat up Biden," Todd said, asking NBC's Garrett Haake how it was working.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dowd called out Biden for refusing to acknowledge his seventh grandchild in a column for the New York Times on Saturday.
NBC host Chuck Todd dismissed Maureen Dowd's column on President Biden's 7th grandchild on Sunday. (Screenshot/NBC/MeetThePress)
HUNTER BIDEN APPEARS IN ARKANSAS COURT FOR HEARING IN CHILD SUPPORT CASE OF 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Haake said no one envies the position the president and his family are in.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"His family and Hunter specifically have become his primary political liability in a lot of ways, I mean look at the cocaine story from the last week and how many Republicans have tried to seize on that," Haake said.
Todd said it was "kind of ugly."
"It's certainly kind of a tacky play here, but I mean look, this is as complex as it gets," Haake continued. "The idea of trying to balance your family's needs versus your political imperative is just ugly and unpleasant in politics as we're going to get and we're going to get way down in it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, arrives at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
BIDEN FAMILY STOCKINGS OMIT HUNTER'S OUT-OF-WEDLOCK DAUGHTER FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Todd agreed and added, "this is only the beginning."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer any questions about Biden and his seventh grandchild, telling reporters that she didn't "anything to share."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dowd's piece, headlined "It’s Seven Grandkids, Mr. President," criticized Biden for his continual omission of the existence of this seventh grandchild named Navy Joan Roberts, a child Hunter Biden had with Lunden Roberts.
President Joe Biden speaks about a new manufacturing partnership between Enphase Energy and Flex, at Flex LTD in West Columbia, South Carolina, on July 6, 2023. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Joe Biden’s mantra has always been that ‘the absolute most important thing is your family.’ It is the heart of his political narrative. Empathy, born of family tragedies, has been his stock in trade. Callously scarring Navy’s life, just as it gets started, undercuts that," she wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"What the Navy story reveals is how dated and inauthentic the 80-year-old president’s view of family is," she added.