Comer Letter

January 18, 2023
Ms. Mary Elizabeth Magill

President
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Dear Ms. Magill:
The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s

possible illegal handling of sensitive, highly classified documents. Recent reports reveal
President Biden’s attorneys discovered Obama-Biden Administration documents in an unsecure
closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement (Penn Biden Center)—a
Washington, D.C.-based think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).1
Additional classified documents were discovered in the President’s Delaware garage and home.2
President Biden’s pattern of mishandling classified documents is alarming. The Committee is
concerned about who had access to these documents given the Biden family’s financial
connections to foreign actors and companies. The Committee requests documents and
information related to foreign influence at UPenn and the Penn Biden Center.
The Committee has learned UPenn received tens of millions of dollars from anonymous
Chinese sources, with a marked uptick in donations when then-former Vice President Biden was
announced as leading the Penn Biden Center initiative.3 UPenn publicized the formation of the
Penn Biden Center on February 1, 2017.4 After that announcement, UPenn’s donations
originating from China more than tripled.5 Not only were these donations made while President
Biden explored a potential run for president and launched his campaign, but also as his family
and associates pursued lucrative financial projects with partners in China.6 The American people
deserve to know whether the Chinese Communist Party, through Chinese companies, influenced
1
Adriana Diaz, Andres Triay & Arden Farhi, U.S. attorney reviewing documents marked classified from Joe Biden’s
vice presidency found at Biden think tank, CBS (Jan. 10, 2023).
2
Charlie Savage, Second Set of Classified Documents Were Found at Biden’s Wilmington Home, White House Says,
N.Y. TIMES (Jan. 12, 2023).
3
See letter from Hon. James Comer, Ranking member, H. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, to Dr. Amy Gutmann,
President, University of Pennsylvania (Jan. 27, 2021).
4
Vice President Joe Biden to lead the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, PENNTODAY
(Feb. 1, 2017).
5
Supra, n. 3.
6
Adam Entous, Michael S. Schmidt & Katie Benner, Hunter Biden’s Tangled Tale Comes Front and Center, N.Y.
TIMES (Jan. 11, 2023).
potential Biden Administration policies with large, anonymous donations to UPenn and the Penn
Biden Center.
Additionally, the Penn Biden Center appears to have acted as a foreign-sponsored source
of income for much of a Biden Administration in-waiting. Between 2017 and 2019, UPenn paid
President Biden more than $900,000,7 and the university employed at least 10 people at the Penn
Biden Center who later became senior Biden administration officials—including Secretary of
State Antony Blinken and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl.8 Financial
disclosures filed with the Office of Government Ethics reveal UPenn paid these Biden associates
between $79,000 and $208,000.9 Following President Biden’s 2020 election victory, he selected
the UPenn president, Amy Gutmann, and the chairman of UPenn’s board of trustees, David
Cohen, to be ambassadors of Germany and Canada, respectively.10 The former managing
director of the Penn Biden Center, Dr. Michael Carpenter, now serves as ambassador to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.11 In the Obama-Biden Administration, Dr.
Carpenter had responsibility over Russia and Ukraine while serving at the Department of
Defense.12 The Committee is concerned top UPenn officials offered lucrative, foreign-funded
salaries to President Biden’s closest political allies to secure senior posts in a future Biden
Administration and foreign actors funded those salaries to influence a future government.
Contrary to what he has told the American people, while Vice President and during his
tenure at the Penn Biden Center, President Biden met with his family’s international business
partners. Robert Hunter Biden, the President’s son, may have had access to the classified
documents found at the President’s Delaware home since he listed it as his home address as
recently as 2018 and planned to share office space with an individual affiliated with the Chinese
Communist Party.13 This level of access and opportunity raises questions about who had access
to the classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center. Reports indicate these materials
included “top-secret files with the ‘sensitive compartmented information’ designation’” that is
used “for highly sensitive information obtained from intelligence sources.”14 It is imperative to
understand whether any Biden family members or associates gained access to the classified
documents while stored at the Penn Biden Center.15
7
Jonathan Tamari, Penn has paid Joe Biden more than $900K since he left the White House. What did he do to earn
the money?, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (Jul. 12, 2019).
8
Thomas Catenacci, Several top White House officials worked for Biden at his think tank where classified docs
discovered, FOX NEWS (Jan. 11, 2023).
9
Id.
10
Id.
11
Ambassador Michael R. Carpenter, U.S. Mission to the OSCE, available at https://osce.usmission.gov/our-
relationship/our-ambassador/.
12
Michael Carpenter, Former Nonresident Senior Fellow – Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council, available at
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/michael-carpenter/.
13
Email on file with the Comm. Email from R. Hunter Biden (Sep. 21, 2017) (“please have keys made available for
new office mates: Joe Biden [and] Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary)”).
14
Jamie Gangel, Classified documents from Biden’s time as VP discovered in private office, CNN.COM (Jan. 9,
2023).
15
Jamie Gangel, Marshall Cohen, Evan Perez & Paula Reid, US intelligence materials related to Ukraine, Iran and
UK found in Biden’s private office, source tells CNN, CNN.COM (Jan. 10, 2023).
To assist the Committee in investigating President Biden’s recent mishandling of
classified information, please provide the following documents and information no later than
February 1, 2023:
1. All documents and communications related to donations originating from China to
UPenn and/or the Penn Biden Center from January 20, 2017 to present;
2. A list of all Chinese donors—and the individual amount donated—to UPenn and/or the
Penn Biden Center from January 20, 2017 to present;
3. All documents and communications related to soliciting donations for the Penn Biden
Center;
4. A list of all employees of the Penn Biden Center—including information about their
salary, job description, and dates of employment;
5. A list of all individuals with keycard access to the Penn Biden Center—including but not
limited to members of President Biden’s family;
6. A visitor log of all individuals who met with President Biden at the Penn Biden Center;
and
7. All documents and communications related to security at the Penn Biden Center.
To schedule delivery of responsive documents or ask any follow-up questions, please
contact Committee on Oversight and Accountability staff at (202) 225-5074.
The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of
the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any
time” under House Rule X.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this important investigation.
Sincerely,
_____________________________
James Comer
Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Accountability
cc: The Honorable Jamie B. Raskin, Ranking Member

Committee on Oversight and Accountability

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January 18, 2023

Ms. Mary Elizabeth Magill

Dear Ms. Magill:

The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s

cc: The Honorable Jamie B. Raskin, Ranking Member

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