The US Secret Service has suspiciously claimed that there is “no record” of visitors to President Biden’s two residences in Delaware and therefore could not disclose that information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
WATCH VIDEO: Retired U.S. Secret Service agent, G. Michael Verden discusses protecting President Joe Biden.
During his first year in office, Biden was at his residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach on about one-quarter of all days, but it is not much known about who stopped by for official meetings or less formal lobbying efforts, such as by members of his family and their associates, per report.
In a response, Secret Service Freedom of Information Act officer Kevin Tyrrell wrote that “[t]he Secret Service FOIA Office searched all Program Offices that were likely to contain potentially responsive records, and no records were located.”
Hunter Biden worked on some overseas projects with his uncle Jim Biden. After routinely seeking business in countries where his father held sway as vice president, the younger Biden is under criminal investigation for possible tax fraud and unregistered foreign lobbying.
Documents and photos from a laptop that formerly belonged to Hunter Biden indicate that he introduced his dad to business associates from China, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine, including at the vice president’s residence in Washington.
During his first year in office, Biden was at one of his Delaware homes for 99 days. The president sometimes speaks about how his houseguests influence his views on policy.
“I was sitting in my kitchen yesterday and here’s a sunroom off the kitchen and my wife was there with her sister and a good friend named Mary Ann. And she was saying, ‘Do you realize it’s over $5 for a pound of hamburger meat? $5?’” said Biden.
Transparency groups have fought for presidential visitor logs with mixed success.
The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) successfully sued to obtain limited records pertaining to a Japanese delegation visit to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but the records weren’t detailed.
CREW spokesperson Jordan Libowitz said: “While we won access to those records, we never got much, as the Secret Service came out and said they were not vetting the president’s meetings, the Trump Organization was.”
“I have not seen any reporting that there is a ton of official business and outside meetings being done when Biden goes to his personal residence in Delaware for the weekend, mainly just going to church. If he were meeting with foreign heads of state at his house in Delaware, that would obviously be a different matter, though,” added Libowitz.