Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee, has called on the U.S. Secret Service to release any visitor logs they keep of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana.
“Given that the U.S. Secret Service provided protection for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence during the time they stored classified materials at their respective residences, the Committee is seeking information from your agency regarding who had access to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and former Vice President Pence’s personal residence since leaving office,” Raskin wrote.
Biden’s Visitor Logs
Raskin’s request for visitor logs from Trump and Pence’s homes comes after House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) called on the White House to release visitor logs from President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home after potentially classified documents were also found at Biden’s home throughout December and January.If Guglielmi’s statement about Secret Service records is accurate, it would mean the protective agency would not have visitor records for Trump or Pence’s homes either.
In addition to calling for visitor logs at Biden’s home, Comer also requested that the University of Pennsylvania provide information about who had access to the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. Biden had used the Penn Biden Center as an office space after his term as vice president ended in 2017. Documents with classified markings were reportedly found in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center in November.
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) is the parent organization for the Penn Biden Center. The center, whose full name is the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, had served as Biden’s personal think tank between his vice presidency and his presidency.
Dueling Investigations, Dueling Defenses
While Comer has sought visitor records from Biden’s home and former office space, he has not pursued similar records requests on Trump and Pence’s homes.After potentially classified documents were found in Pence’s possession, Comer issued a statement crediting the former vice president with being forthcoming about the documents found in his possession while accusing the Biden administration of withholding information.
Raskin said members of Biden’s team “appear to have taken immediate and proper action to notify the National Archives about their discovery of a small handful of classified documents so they could be returned to federal government custody. ”