Biden’s Think Tank And How It Sought To “Advance The World Order”

Amy Gutmann, President of University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), was the first to open the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement five years ago. bragged of how Joe Biden’s “unmatched personal connections” It would be a great help “advance the world order.”

Now, after classified documents were discovered at the Washington, D.C., think tank, concerns are being raised about foreign benefactors, particularly from China, and the revolving door of university employees who made their way into now-President Biden’s administration.

“This level of access and opportunity raises questions about who had access to the classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center,” James Comer, R-KY, was the Chairman of House Oversight Committee. a recent letter M. Elizabeth Magill is the President of UPenn. “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.”

UPenn’s prestigious Beltway outpost opened in February 2018 with high expectations. This think tank was to be a center for diplomacy, bringing together students and staff from around the world. “The Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was founded on the principle that a democratic, open, secure, tolerant, and interconnected world benefits all Americans,” According to a spokesperson from UPenn, The Daily Wire was informed by the spokesperson.

Biden became UPenn’s Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor in 2017, shortly after leaving the vice presidency. Biden was his only student until April 2019. Taking an unpaid absence After announcing his candidacy for the presidency.

Biden received more than $900,000. UPenn paid him for a position which did not require regular classes, but resulted in approximately a dozen campus appearances. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s 2019 investigative report. Citing higher-education experts, the article surmised Biden probably wasn’t paid so much for lectures as he was “for something less tangible: the prestige of associating with a former vice president and senator who had burnished his reputation as a global figure.” That didn’t stop Biden from exclaiming last year that he Worked as a “full professor” UPenn for four consecutive years, a claim that PolitiFact determined Was “Half True.”

Today, the Penn Biden Center’s website and social media accounts are quiet. There have been no new posts on the site or social media since spring 2022. But in recent weeks the think tank reemerged as the epicenter of controversy rocking Biden’s presidency.

CBS News reported the story last month that on November 2, days before the midterm elections, Biden’s attorneys found about 10 documents marked classified while clearing out Biden’s office at the center. Later, the news outlet reported The FBI searched The Penn Biden Center was visited in November, but it was not clear if investigators had found additional classified material.

With classified documents dating back to Biden’s time as vice president or U.S. senator also discovered at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur Special counsel to investigate whether “any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter.” Biden claimed that he was “surprised” His private office was searched for government documents. He said that they would fully cooperate with investigators.

Several aspects of the story remain unclear, including why it took so long for Biden’s team to clear out his old think tank office. There is increasing concern over how foreign donations to UPenn increased by three times in the two years following the opening of the Biden Penn Center. The Washington Free Beacon Report Most of the $61,000,000 in gifts and contracts, between 2017 & 2019, was from China. Citing records The Department of Education. Republicans and others have long warned of Biden’s potential for conflicts of interest, especially with the multi-million dollar dealings of the president’s son Hunter involving China and other countries.

“The danger of influence peddling is that it is not only the preferred avenue for corruption in Washington, but it often allows dangerous levels of access to targeted leaders,” Jonathan Turley, George Washington University professor of law A January column was written. “Even if the public dodged this danger on the Chinese-funded office, it was not due to any lack of effort by the Bidens. The question now is how the public can feel confident that the FBI will show the same vigor in investigating the Bidens as it did [former President Donald] Trump.”

In his letter last month to UPenn’s president, Comer demanded a wide range of documents and communications, particularly those related to Chinese donors. “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 wrote.

A UPenn spokesperson told The Daily Wire the university received Comer’s letter and planned to respond in a timely manner. “It is important to reiterate that the Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity,” According to the spokesperson. “In fact, the University has never solicited any gifts for the Center. Since its inception in 2017 there have been three unsolicited gifts (from two donors) which combined total $1,100. Both donors are Americans. One hundred percent of the budget for the Penn Biden Center comes from university funds.”

A number of people who worked at UPenn and its D.C. think tank made the jump to Biden’s administration. Gutmann is one of these people, who was also made ambassador to Germany. Antony Blinken was also a fixture of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. Penn Biden Center managing director before leaving to join Biden’s presidential campaign, and later becoming his secretary of state.

Elliot Abrams has been a long-serving government official for foreign policy in multiple administrations. According to the Associated Press The think tank “started as a parking space for Biden people until he ran for president, and never really outgrew that start.”

Biden spoke in a promotional video about the center and acknowledged that one of his highest-flying ambitions came to pass. “I’m hoping that we are going to see some future secretaries of states, and presidents, and national security advisers roll through this outfit,” He said.