The University of Pennsylvania is denying allegations that the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a Washington, D.C., think tank and President Joe Biden's former office space, solicited money from foreign entities.
"It is important to reiterate that the Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity," a Penn spokesperson told the Daily Pennsylvanian, the university's student newspaper.
The allegations come from House Republicans, who sent a letter to Penn President Liz Magill requesting documents, visitor logs, and other information associated with alleged donations from China after classified documents were found in Biden's former office.
The letter, dated Wednesday and signed by House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman Rep. James Cormer, R-Ky., claims Penn received "tens of millions of dollars from anonymous Chinese sources," and that those donations tripled after the university announced the creation of the Penn Biden Center in 2017.
"The American people deserve to know whether the Chinese Communist Party, through Chinese companies, influenced potential Biden administration policies with large, anonymous donations to UPenn and the Penn Biden Center," Cormer wrote.
A Penn spokesperson said the university would provide the information in a "timely manner" and denied the allegations of foreign influence.
"One hundred percent of the budget for the Penn Biden Center comes from university funds. Any foreign gifts received by the university are all properly reported to the U.S. Department of Education as required" by law, the spokesman told CBS News. "Penn is fully compliant with federal law regarding the reporting of foreign gifts and contracts."
During a Senate conformation hearing in 2021, U.S. ambassador to Germany and former Penn president Amy Gutmann said a "very small fraction" of the $10 billion raised during her tenure originated from China, according to CBS News.
"A very small fraction of that comes from China, considerably less than 1%," Gutmann told senators, according to CBS News. "What I do know, and what I make sure of, is that no gifts, no contracts of the University of Pennsylvania are allowed to threaten academic freedom, are allowed to threaten national security. We do no classified research. We get about one gift per three minutes."
The Penn Biden Center was created in 2018 as part of the school's global outreach initiatives, hosting political science courses, employing interns, and holding events on foreign policy. According to the center's website, it is a unit "completely independent" of the Biden administration.
Biden kept an office in the center at the foot of Capitol Hill after he left his vice presidency in 2017, which he used "periodically" until he launched his 2020 campaign, Biden's attorney, Richard Sauber, said in a statement last week.
According Sauber, a "small number of documents with classified markings" were discovered in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2 as the president's personal attorneys were clearing out the offices. Additional classified materials were found in Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, garage.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as a special counsel to investigate Biden's handling of classified material. A separate special counsel investigation of former President Donald Trump's candling of classified material is ongoing.
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(Staff writer Oona Goodin-Smith contributed to this article.)
