As the demand for transparency grows louder, the stubborn silence from President Joe Biden’s administration concerning the visitor logs at his Delaware home is raising eyebrows. The Republicans’ quest for answers has been met with stone-cold resistance, raising questions about the Democrats’ much-vaunted commitment to openness.
Bizarrely, the U.S. Secret Service is outright refusing to release emails that would identify visitors to Biden’s Delaware residences. This is in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. An officer has stepped forward claiming these emails aren’t agency records subject to FOIA, citing a previous case involving President Trump’s residence. But isn’t the public entitled to know who’s coming and going in the President’s private abode?
The NY Post, not deterred by this stonewalling, filed its own FOIA request. The Secret Service, however, played the same old tune, stating that they found “no records” of visitors to Biden’s Delaware home. It’s interesting how they cited a federal appeals court ruling in New York concerning visitor information for Trump’s residences – even though this ruling doesn’t bind officials in Delaware or D.C.
Earlier this year, amid a scandal over Biden’s alleged illegal possession of classified documents, the Secret Service declared they were “gathering” information on visitors to Biden’s Wilmington home. Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson rightfully demanded to know the identities of “all individuals” who visited the residence and other places where Biden kept classified documents, including a private office at the Penn Biden Center in D.C.
But the plot thickens. The Secret Service says it’s “evaluating” the Senators’ letter, “gathering” various information, and “working through appropriate channels” to locate what “may be responsive to Congressional inquiries.” Yet, they admit they don’t keep “formal and comprehensive visitor logs for protected residences,” likening their system to a private home rather than a government facility under the Presidential Records Act.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, did say the agency keeps records on certain visitors like “contractors” or “workers.” Also, they collect information about the “law enforcement and criminal justice” histories of people who visit protected sites. This raises the question: if they can keep tabs on some visitors, why not all?
Biden’s garage in Wilmington, where he stores his vintage Chevrolet Corvette, was found to contain haphazardly stored classified documents. This alone should warrant a thorough investigation, as Senator Johnson rightly insists, into Biden’s mishandling of our nation’s top secrets.
Despite first denying it, the Secret Service later admitted it had some records regarding visitors to Biden’s Delaware residence. However, they said that no official visitor logs were kept because it is a private home. But the fact remains: this is not just any private home, it’s the residence of the President of the United States.
The New York Post reported Guglielmi saying that the Secret Service doesn’t keep independent visitor logs because it’s a private residence. He stated that visitor logs at government buildings are part of the National Archives and Records Administration, and while they have access to those, they’re not the custodian of those records and logs. It’s curious how these rules seem to shift depending on the situation.
Yes, the White House may not have kept a formal list, but the Secret Service does collect information on guests with regular access to the home. The retention of the names of those vetted by the Secret Service depends on factors like proximity to the president and the nature of the background check, according to Fox News. But shouldn’t all visitors to the President’s residence be considered close proximity and thus recorded?
This lack of transparency is emblematic of the wider issue of Democrats, liberals
Sources: ConservativeBrief, NYPost, WashingtonExaminer
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