White House: No visitor logs were kept at Biden’s homes
Washington, Jan 16 (EFE).- The White House on Monday confirmed that no visitors logs exist for the personal homes of President Joe Biden, where several sets of classified documents were found, after Republican lawmakers demanded that any such lists be made public.
“Like every President across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” said Ian Sams, the spokeman for the White House legal office.
He was responding to the request from the head of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer, that the administration make public the visitors log for Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, where over the past couple of weeks several classified documents dating to his 2009-2017 term as vice president under Barack Obama were found.
“The Committee demands transparency into whether any individuals with foreign connections to the Biden family gained access to President Biden’s residence and the classified documents that he has mishandled for years,” Comer said in his letter to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, citing the “serious national security implications.”
“President Biden’s mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security. Without a list of individuals who have visited the residence, the American people will never know who had access to these highly sensitive documents,” he added.
In the administration’s response on Monday, Sams said that although it is not a White House practice to maintain logs of visitors to the personel homes of presidents “upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous (Donald Trump) administration ended them.”
Last week, the White House confirmed on three occasions that classified documents had been found at Biden’s personal residence and office, a case that could complicate the last two years of his term in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Biden has not yet announced any plans to run for reelection.
Last Thursday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced his appointment of a special counsel, conservative jurist Robert Hur, to examine all classified documents that have been found and the circumstances surrounding how they remained in Biden’s possession after he left the vice presidency.
Both the White House and Biden have said that they are fully cooperating in this investigation and have tried to differentiate this case from that involving former President Donald Trump, who is also being investigated by the Department of Justice for retaining hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, residence.
After many unfulfilled requests that Trump turn over any and all classified documents in his possession, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago and seized more than a dozen boxes of materials, a move that has sparked the anger of Trump and his supporters.
EFE
–/bp
