In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Secret Service claims that it is not permitted to release emails that name visitors to Resident Biden’s Delaware properties.
The details may be relevant to high-profile disputes regarding business relationships with the Biden family and improper handling of secret documents by the president.
Even though the decision does not control the activities of officials in Delaware or Washington, DC, a Secret Service FOIA officer cited a federal appeals court decision in New York relating to visitor data regarding former President Donald Trump’s houses.
“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 law enforcement officer stated in a message.
In response to a FOIA request made by The New York Post, the Secret Service stated in the past that “no records were located” containing logs of Biden’s visits to Delaware.
The Secret Service dismissed an appeal in September, stating once more to The Post that “no responsive records” had been discovered following an “additional search of relevant program offices.”
The most recent response is different in that it states that the pertinent records cannot be disclosed, rather than denying that they exist.
The Secret Service, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security, denied The Post’s request for information on Oct. 10 after waiting over seven months to review it. This is despite agency staff members claiming to have laboriously searched through a “vast number of documents.”
“Please be advised, we are currently reviewing thousands of records in an effort to locate any documents responsive to your request,” a Secret Service FOIA office staff member apprised The Post in the month of March.
The records were also requested by the House Oversight Committee. It’s unclear how that request is progressing.
In January, as the secret materials issue deepened, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and other GOP leaders in Congress requested Delaware visitor logs. This was in response to the president’s disclosure that he kept documents close to his vintage Corvette.
Weekend visits from Biden to one of his Delaware homes have piqued interest, particularly since it was revealed that Hunter Biden brought Mexican business associates to the vice presidential residence while his father was in that position and gathered Russian, Ukrainian, and Kazakhstani associates with his father at a dinner in Washington, DC.
The Biden scion allegedly also introduced his father to partners from two different Chinese companies.
On a 2018 background check form, Hunter identified the Wilmington residence as his own location, and his abandoned laptop featured a picture of a battered box of “Important Doc’s” that was allegedly at the residence.
In January, Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s spokesperson, acknowledged that “the Secret Service does generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.”
In addition, Fox News reported in January that an anonymous source had stated that “the Secret Service is prepared to provide available background information on vetted guests to Biden’s residence if requested by Congress.”
Robert Hur, a special counsel, is investigating whether Biden or anybody in his vicinity broke the law by improperly handling sensitive documents.
Hunter Biden is apparently about to be charged by the Justice Department with crimes like tax fraud, money laundering, and unregistered foreign lobbying.
The foreign business operations of President Biden’s son and brother James are the subject of an investigation by House Republicans who call them influence dealing.
Recent congressional testimony shows that the infamous 2020 letter alleging that the Hunter laptop allegation was a Russian disinformation plot was both signed and ultimately approved by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.
Multiple former U.S. intelligence officials testified under oath about the CIA’s involvement in the dissemination of the letter, which was ultimately signed by over fifty former top U.S. intelligence officials, according to a report that will be published by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government this coming Wednesday.
“One signer of the statement, former CIA analyst David Cariens, disclosed to the Committees that a CIA employee affiliated with the agency’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (‘PCRB’) informed him of the existence of the statement and asked him if he would sign it,” the House report states.
“The Committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has ignored the request to date.”
The mission of the Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) is to examine comments, letters, and books written by former intelligence employees in order to assess whether any classified information is included that has to be deleted or redacted before publication.
