As a Washington-based think tank that has now become a focal point in an ongoing scandal investigation concerning classified documents from this past November, the Penn Biden Center has recently hosted an event seeking to encourage deeper U.S.-China ties.
The aforementioned event took place inside the University of Pennsylvania as they took in tens of millions of dollars from Chinese entities, most of which was given entirely anonymously. The Penn Biden Center was discovered to be a stash area for caches of classified U.S. documents until the personal attorneys for President Joe Biden discovered the documents stashed away inside the president’s office back on the 2nd of November.
Back in June, the location hosted an event over the course of two days for groups of Congressional staffers which encouraged them to work closely with China on a number of issues such as academia and clean energy, explained a source known to be familiar with the even to The Washington Free Beacon. The event had absolutely no security posted or patrolling, only staff to assist attendees with information concerning the event.
The event was carried out by the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations.
Rebeccah Heinrichs, an expert from the Hudson Institute regarding national security practices, claimed that the failures in security that went along with having highly sensitive U.S. documents stashed inside the same building where such an event took place were “shocking.”
“The fact that [the documents] were not secured, [were] open and uncared for, and also that you had this other activity going on inside this facility, with individuals that may not have the best interests of the American people at heart, is shocking,” expressed Heinrichs to the Free Beacon.
“I would like to know more about … who was going in and out of these specific workshops, these discussions, who has been through this facility,” she went on. “The American people deserve a full accounting of who may have had easy access to these documents.”
Republicans across Capitol Hill have started to keep a close eye on the financial ties to China sported by the University of Pennsylvania. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) recently issued a promise to lead an investigation into the college, the various foreign donors, and just what kind of ties they could have to the Penn Biden Center.