Secret Service could offer House Republicans way to get Wilmington visitor logs
Sarah Westwood
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House Republican investigators could get information about who visited President Joe Biden‘s Wilmington, Delaware, home from the Secret Service in the absence of any visitor logs kept by the White House.
Which individuals visited the Wilmington residence and when has emerged as a top area of focus for GOP lawmakers digging into Biden’s mishandling of classified information.
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The White House confirmed earlier this week that no visitor logs for the Delaware home exist, saying in a statement that Biden’s “personal residence is personal.”
That statement came after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (KY) asked the White House in a letter to provide Wilmington visitor logs to Republican investigators.
But the Secret Service has at least some information about who spent time with Biden at the home, and the agency could provide the Oversight Committee a way to obtain key names and dates that does not require the White House’s consent.
“There are several avenues to obtain information on who had access to classified documents at the Wilmington residence and the Oversight Committee will pursue those avenues,” a spokesperson for the committee told the Washington Examiner.
Secret Service officials have indicated a willingness to share information about the visitors if asked by Congress, Fox News reported on Thursday.
The Secret Service has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Like it does for visitors at the White House, the Secret Service often conducts background checks on those who visit closely with the president at his private residence.
The Wilmington visitor log became a subject of interest after Biden’s lawyers discovered classified documents in the home on at least three separate occasions.
After the first occasion, on Dec. 20, the Justice Department did not conduct an independent search of the property and therefore did not recover at least six additional pages of classified material that remained unsecured in Biden’s home until mid-January.
House Republicans have signaled interest in who may have had access to the classified information as it sat in Biden’s garage and a room adjacent to the garage for what could have been years; reports suggest the classified material dates back to Biden’s time as vice president.
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One avenue for getting information about the case — the National Archives, which first alerted the Justice Department to the situation after the White House counsel contacted the agency on Nov. 2 — may be more difficult to navigate.
The National Archives said this week that the agency would not share information with Congress unless it received approval from the special counsel investigating the matter; special counsels rarely make information public during the course of a criminal investigation.