A big problem Democrats and the complicit media have when it comes to the discovery of classified documents in President Joe Biden’s former office at a Washington think tank is that they set the precedent with their response to former President Donald Trump allegedly possessing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Another problem they have little interest in is that the documents were at a “Chinese-funded” think tank, according to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
It was on the latter note that Trump had plenty to say, with the media quick to dismiss his assertions as “wild speculation” — the odd thing about Trump’s speculations is that, over time, he is proven to be right more often than not.
“Wow! The Biden Think Tank is funded by CHINA!!!” Trump posted. “Also, a V.P. cannot Declassify documents, which are covered by the Federal Records Act, which is Criminal and MUCH TOUGHER than the Presidential Records Act, which is NOT Criminal. A President, me, can Declassify. How much more information has China been given?”
“The amount was 54 Million Dollars that the Biden Think Tank received from China. That’s a lot of money,” Trump added in another post. “They saw the Classified Documents!”
And while there’s no way to say for certain that the Chinese saw the documents, Trump followed that post with a comment suggesting that he was, indeed, speculating: “Biden giving China Highly Classified Documents would be a bridge too far. I certainly wouldn’t do that. Not a good situation for our Country to be in!”
The Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, where Biden served as an honorary professor from 2017 to 2019 and maintained an office there after his term as vice president ended until he was elected president in 2020, according to the Washington Times.
The newspaper cited a conservative government watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), which claimed the Biden think tank “received $54.6 million in donations from China between 2014 through June 2019, including $23.1 million in 2016.”
A spokesman for the university denied in May that the center received any Chinese funding, according to the Times.
“The Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity. In fact, the University has never solicited any gifts from the center,” spokesman Stephen MacCarthy said at the time.
NLPC counsel Paul Kamenar suggested a simple answer to the question — open its books.
“This is a matter of transparency,” he said. “If the school doesn’t have anything to hide, why not disclose all of the donations, and contracts and gifts and let the students and the public see any conditions or strings attached to the use of that money?”
Yet another problem Democrats have is timing. President Biden’s lawyers discovered the classified documents in his former office on Nov. 2, six days before the midterm elections. Yet, the White House waited until Monday to publicly acknowledge the finding and Republican lawmakers have questions about the delay.
One lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is going so far as to call the slow release a “cover-up.”
Even the New York Times admitted the discovery would have been “explosive” just before the election.
“The White House statement said that it ‘is cooperating’ with the department but did not explain why Mr. Biden’s team waited more than two months to announce the discovery of the documents, which came a week before the midterm congressional elections when the news would have been an explosive last-minute development,” the newspaper reported.
American Wire News Service