How We Got Here: Biden’s Think Tank And How It Sought To ‘Advance The World Order’

Five years ago, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was inaugurated. University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann bragged of how Joe Biden’s “unmatched personal connections” Would be great! “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, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee (R-KY), wrote in 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,” A spokesperson for UPenn told The Daily Wire.

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. Taken an unpaid leave When he announced his presidential campaign.

Biden was paid more than $900,000. UPenn did not pay regular classes, but he did make about a dozen appearances on campus. 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 a period of four years, a claim which PolitiFact determined This was “Half True.”

The website and social media pages for the Penn Biden Center have been relatively quiet since the 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 FBI search Mid-November saw the Penn Biden Center, although it was not known if additional classified materials were discovered by investigators.

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 As special counsel, to determine 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. It is becoming increasingly alarming to learn that foreign donations to UPenn have reportedly increased by more than three times since the Biden Pen Center was established. The Washington Free Beacon Report Most of the $61,000,000 in gifts and contracts, between 2017 & 2019, was from China. Citing records From 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 In a January column, I wrote. “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