Republicans have been seeking answers about President Joe Biden’s Delaware home visitor records’ lack of openness, and the statement they just received won’t make matters better going ahead.
The U.S. Secret Service is reportedly refusing to hand over emails identifying visitors to Biden’s homes in Delaware as a Freedom of Information Act request was filed.
“Please be advised that emails reflecting visitors to President Biden’s residences in Wilmington, Delaware, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware are not agency records subject to the FOIA. See Doyle v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 959 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 2020) (finding that emails regarding expected visitors to the sitting President’s residence were not agency records subject to the FOIA.),” the officer said in a letter.
The NY Post reported it had submitted its own FOIA request and that the Secret Service had stated earlier in the year that “no records were located” about Biden’s visits to Delaware.
“A Secret Service FOIA officer cited a federal appeals court ruling in New York regarding visitor information for former President Donald Trump’s residences, even though the ruling doesn’t bind the actions of officials in Delaware or in DC,” the New York Post reported.
The Secret Service said earlier this year it was “gathering” information about who visited Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, amid a scandal involving the president’s potential illegal possession of classified documents.
The Washington Examiner reported the demand includes information on “all individuals” who visited the residence as well as other places where Biden stashed classified documents, including a private office he used at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.
The outlet noted further:
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson wrote to the Secret Service on Monday in a letter first obtained by the Washington Examiner and requested the visitor logs. Now, the Secret Service said it is evaluating that letter and is “currently in the process of gathering” various information, as well as “working through appropriate channels” to locate what “may be responsive to Congressional inquiries.”
“We are in receipt of Senator Grassley’s letter and it is currently being reviewed,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told the outlet, which reported that he also said the USSS does not maintain “formal and comprehensive visitor logs for protected residences.”
“What I mean by that is there is not a system of validated visitor logs as you find at the White House or other government facilities that fall under the Presidential Records Act,” he noted further in a Wednesday email to the outlet.
Guglielmi did say, though, that the agency keeps some records on certain visitors like particular “contractors” or “workers.” In addition, the Secret Service collects information about the “law enforcement and criminal justice” histories of people who visit protected sites.
At the Wilmington location, classified documents were found stored haphazardly in Biden’s garage where he stores his vintage Chevrolet Corvette.
This comes as Hunter Biden is at the forefront of the Biden family scandal.
More stunning details regarding some WhatsApp messages between Hunter Biden and a Chinese businessman with close ties to the Communist government have been released.
According to a Twitter post by the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), Hunter appears to have suggested that his family is the “best” at doing the bidding of the Chinese government.
The messages, dated July 30, 2017, were provided to the committee by IRS whistleblowers. They were exchanged between Hunter and Chinese energy company CEFC employee and translator Raymond Zhao, noting that the then-future first son was “sitting” with his dad, then-former Vice President Joe Biden, and the two “would like to understand why the commitment” to be paid up to $10 million “made has not been fulfilled.”
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter told Zhao.
“And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction,” the message added.
