EXCLUSIVE — The special counsel appointed to investigate President Joe Biden’s possible mishandling of classified documents should authorize a search of his hidden Senate records stored at the University of Delaware, according to watchdogs.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made ex-Trump Justice Department appointee Robert Hur special counsel on Jan. 12 to handle the investigation, which widened in scope on Friday upon DOJ officials finding six more classified records at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home. Now, three watchdog groups are calling for a search of the University of Delaware, which houses almost 2,000 boxes and over 400 gigabytes of digital records from Biden’s 36-year Senate career.
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“With the number of discoveries of new locations containing classified documents seeming to rise every day, it’s possible that classified material could be found in nearly every place Joe Biden slept, worked, or stored his personal belongings,” said Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust. “Not only has the White House deflected legitimate questions about this scandal, it has also expended taxpayer resources in a potentially improper manner in a matter involving Mr. Biden long before he became President Biden.”
The University of Delaware records are said to hold committee reports, correspondence, and draft legislation in connection to Biden’s time in the Senate. Biden donated the records to the school in 2012.
While the university claimed that the Senate records would be made “available to the public two years after Biden’s last day in elected public office,” the records have not seen the light of day. This is because Delaware changed its position hours before Biden announced his April 2019 bid for president and claimed the records will remain hidden until he “retires from public life.”
Delaware has argued that the Senate records do not have to be publicly disclosed under the law. It has long been speculated that the records could contain documents related to Tara Reade, who worked in Biden’s office in 1993 and has accused him of sexual assault.
“One defining feature since the beginning of this classified document scandal is the lack of transparency from the White House, President Biden’s surrogates, and the DOJ,” Pete McGinnis, spokesman for the Functional Government Initiative, told the Washington Examiner. “The fact that the FBI search of Biden’s home last week uncovered more documents than originally known make it critical that the Biden Center at the University of Delaware be searched.”
Biden served as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while in the Senate, meaning he had access to classified records, according to the National Legal and Policy Center, another watchdog group.
On Monday, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) demanded that the Secret Service hand over a list containing the names of “all individuals” who visited places that housed classified records. The Secret Service is reportedly willing to provide a list in connection to Biden’s Wilmington home, but the White House has said no such visitor logs exist for the location.
Classified records from Biden’s vice presidency have also been found at the Penn Biden Center think tank, which Biden occasionally used as a personal office between mid-2017 and 2020. The think tank has hosted events with groups that have encouraged closer ties with China’s government in relation to green energy and education policy, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Tuesday.
The Penn Biden Center has received millions of dollars from Chinese donors, as well as $14 million from anonymous sources in Hong Kong, China, and Saudi Arabia, according to records. The National Legal and Policy Center has demanded that the prosecutor handling the investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden see if the Penn Biden Center and its affiliated University of Pennsylvania violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
That complaint followed reports on how Hunter Biden, who may soon face charges in connection to late tax filings and fraudulent business deductions worth at least $30,000, was paid millions of dollars from CEFC, a now-defunct Chinese energy conglomerate affiliated with China’s government. NLPC has also said the Penn Biden Center should have to register as a foreign agent given its ties to Chinese interests.
“The FBI needs to search the entire 14,000-square-foot Penn Biden Center where classified documents were found by his private attorneys searching only Biden’s private office on November 2nd,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel to NLPC. “Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who served as managing director, also had an office there.”
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“The FBI also needs to search Biden’s Senate records stored at the University of Delaware,” he added.
The White House did not reply to a request for comment.
