WASHINGTON — The Secret Service is refusing to hand over emails that identify visitors to President Biden’s homes in Delaware, telling The Post in response to a Freedom of Information Act request that it can’t legally do so.
The information could bear on high-profile controversies involving the Biden family’s business dealings and the president’s mishandled classified records.
The Secret Service flatly refused to supply records after a more than seven-month wait during which the agency said it was combing through “thousands” of emails to comply with the public-records law.
A FOIA officer cited a federal appeals court ruling in New York that in 2020 turned down a request for visitor information for former President Donald Trump’s residences, even though that ruling doesn’t bind the actions of officials in Delaware or in DC.
“Please be advised that emails reflecting visitors to President Biden’s residences in Wilmington, Delaware and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware are not agency records subject to the FOIA. See Doyle v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 959 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 2020) (finding that emails regarding expected visitors to the sitting President’s residence were not agency records subject to the FOIA.),” the officer said in a letter.
The Secret Service claimed last year that “no records were located” showing “logs” of Biden’s Delaware visitors in response to a FOIA request filed by The Post.
In September, the Secret Service denied an appeal, telling The Post again that “no responsive records” were found after an “additional search of relevant program offices.”
The latest response to the more broadly worded request is different in that it doesn’t deny the existence of responsive records and instead says they cannot be released.
“President Biden pledged to have the most transparent administration in history but continues to hide information at every turn,” said House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).
“Given the Bidens’ influence peddling schemes and Joe Biden stashing classified documents for years, Americans need to know who has visited President Biden’s homes and properties.”
The Secret Service, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, turned down The Post after saying it would expedite the FOIA request, which was submitted Oct. 10 — and despite agency workers claiming to be conducting a tireless search through a “vast number of documents.”
“Please be advised, we are currently reviewing thousands of records in an effort to locate any documents responsive to your request,” a Secret Service FOIA office employee informed The Post in March.
The Oversight Committee also has requested the records.
Comer initially sought Delaware visitor logs in January as the classified documents scandal grew — with the president admitting that he kept records next to his classic Corvette.
Biden usually travels to one of his Delaware homes on weekends, heightening interest in his visitors — especially after evidence emerged that first son Hunter Biden took Mexican business associates to the vice presidential residence while Joe Biden was VP and brought his dad to a DC dinner with his Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstani associates.
In addition, the Biden scion reportedly introduced his father to partners from two separate Chinese businesses.
Hunter Biden listed the Wilmington home as his own address on a 2018 background check form, and his abandoned laptop contained a photo of a beaten-up box of “Important Doc’s” apparently at the house.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi admitted in January that “the Secret Service does generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.”
Also in January, Fox News quoted an unnamed source as promising that “the Secret Service is prepared to provide available background information on vetted guests to Biden’s residence if requested by Congress.”
Special counsel Robert Hur is reviewing whether Biden or anyone in his orbit violated the law by mishandling classified records.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is reportedly close to a decision on charging Hunter Biden with crimes including tax fraud, money laundering and unregistered foreign lobbying.
House Republicans are investigating President Biden’s links to his son and brother James Biden’s foreign ventures, which they describe as influence peddling.
