Comer focuses on Penn Biden Center in investigation of classified documents

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is zeroing in on the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., as part of the panel’s investigation into classified documents discovered in President Biden’s former office at the think tank.

Comer is specifically interested in learning about who had access to the Penn Biden Center, a visitor log of those who met with Biden at the think tank, security at the facility and any donations to the center that may link back to China. He laid out the requests in a letter to University of Pennsylvania President Mary Elizabeth Magill on Tuesday, asking that all materials be handed over by Feb. 1.

“The Committee is concerned about who had access to these documents given the Biden family’s financial connections to foreign actors and companies,” Comer wrote in the letter, obtained by Punchbowl News. “The Committee requests documents and information related to foreign influence at UPenn and the Penn Biden Center.”

The request to the Penn Biden Center comes after Comer over the weekend asked the White House to release visitor logs for Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Del., where a tranche of classified documents from the Obama administration was found. The White House counsel’s office, however, has said that visitor logs do not exist for the location because it is a personal residence.

Comer’s Oversight and Accountability Committee is one of several congressional panels looking into the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington and office at the Penn Biden Center. Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) launched an investigation into the matter, zeroing in on the Justice Department’s actions in relation to the situation.

Roughly two dozen materials with classified markings have been discovered at Biden’s home and former office. The first tranche was first discovered in early November, but the White House only disclosed the finding this month. Since then, the White House has announced additional discoveries.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the matter last week. Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, has said the White House will cooperate with the special counsel.

Comer on Wednesday said “the American people deserve to know whether the Chinese Communist Party, through Chinese companies, influenced potential Biden Administration policies with large, anonymous donations to UPenn and the Penn Biden Center.”

He laid out information he said the committee has learned regarding donations to the think tank that are linked to China, reaching tens of millions of dollars. The letter also claimed that Biden, while vice president and afterward, “met with his family’s international business partners” and raised concerns about Hunter Biden, the president’s son, having access to the classified documents found at Biden’s Wilmington home.

“It is imperative to understand whether any Biden family members or associates gained access to the classified documents while stored at the Penn Biden Center,” Comer wrote.