Special Counsel on Classified Documents Must Investigate Anonymous Chinese Donations to Biden Center

NLPC is calling upon the newly appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden, to issue subpoenas to President Biden, his personal attorneys, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and other former staff of the Biden Center. An investigation must determine how numerous classified documents and other presidential records of the Obama-Biden Administration found their way to the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., and at Biden’s personal residence and garage in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Biden Center is a think tank funded by the University of Pennsylvania, which received more than $60 million in donations from Chinese entities, of which approximately $22 million is anonymous.

The revelation of the stored classified documents came to light on Monday with the White House issuing a statement that both classified and unclassified White House records were discovered on November 2, 2022, before the mid-term elections, “when the President’s personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.”  On Thursday the White House revealed additional documents were found yesterday at Biden’s home and garage in Delaware.

As part of its investigations, NLPC has filed a FOIA request seeking answers to many questions including:

• Why was this discovery kept secret before the mid-term elections and held for two months?
• Why are expensive private attorneys moving his personal office?
• Why did it take almost two years after he occupied the White House in January 2021 to decide to vacate his old office at the Biden Center? Where did his attorneys take all his belongings?
• Why did it take up to two more months after discovering the classified documents at the Biden Center to complete the searches of his home in Delaware and his vacation home in Rehoboth?
• How are the documents being handled? Has the FBI checked for fingerprints? Is there an inventory?
• Why hasn’t the FBI searched the Biden Center and his homes to see if other documents are stored there rather than relying on the search by Biden attorneys who may have tainted evidence?

NLPC also filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department seeking documents about the selection and vetting of Special Counsel Robert Hur.

The Biden Center opened its offices on February 8, 2018, at 101 Constitution Ave, N.W., which Joe Biden used as an occasional office and where Antony Blinken, now Secretary of State, served as the Biden Center’s Executive Director.

Before he announced his presidency in 2019, Biden received approximately $900,000 from the University of Pennsylvania for giving a handful of lectures.  He later appointed Amy Gutmann, the President of the University, as Ambassador to Germany.  During her confirmation hearings, she dodged questions about the source of the Chinese donations, falsely stating that they are required to be kept anonymous. Biden also appointed David Cohen, the Chair of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and major Democratic fundraiser, as Ambassador to Canada.

NLPC filed a complaint against the University of Pennsylvania and the Biden Center in 2020 for failing to disclose the source of anonymous Chinese donations and with the Justice Department against Hunter Biden and the Biden Center for failing to register as foreign agents of China.

“Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel is welcome news but there must be a thorough investigation,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center.

“NLPC will share its investigation with the House Oversight Committee, now chaired by Representative James Comer, and the new Select Committee on China, chaired by Representative Michael Gallagher, as they conduct a full investigation of this matter, including the Chinese money connection to the Biden Center and Hunter Biden,” said Peter Flaherty, Chairman of NLPC