Cruz, Trump Jr. Shocked By Report That Biden Center Lacks Donor Transparency About Chinese Influence

Yesterday, a report was released by a watchdog group that said it filed a complaint with the Department of Education requesting that it conduct a full investigation into the University of Pennsylvania’s failure to disclose the source of millions of dollars of donations from China since 2013 to the university and its Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement as required by law.

Peter Flaherty, Chair of NLPC said that “It is apparent that the Biden Center is beholden to China for its operations. This has an insidious affect on shaping the programs it produces.” Paul Kamenar, counsel for NLPC added that “These multi-million dollar donations from China are bad enough, but the flagrant reporting violations over the years are simply outrageous.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported that when they asked about its funding, a spokesman for the Biden Center said that it is “a question for my colleagues at main university.” The didn’t get a response from Penn spokesman Stephen MacCarthy or from the Biden campaign.

Senator Ted Cruz responded to the news by saying, “Wow.” He believes that all of the Biden Center’s donors, especially foreign donors “should be publicly disclosed.” Most troubling, he said, was that they won’t answer if they receive money from the Chinese Communist Party. Donald Trump Jr. was likewise troubled, explaiming “Yikes!!!”

Cruz: Wow. New report that the Biden Center is refusing to disclose its donors. All its donors—especially foreign donors—should be publicly disclosed. Most troubling: Biden Center won’t answer if receives $$ from CCP.

Trump Jr.: Yikes!!!

Yikes!!! https://t.co/WAbb3SpeYS

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 22, 2020

From the NLPC:

Since 2017 alone, when the Biden Center opened and after Joe Biden announced he was running for President in April 2018, the university received over $70 million from China, of which $22 million were listed as “Anonymous.”  Federal law requires the disclosure of the source of all donations over $250,000.  The complaint also requests referral to the Department of Justice to file an enforcement action seeking compliance and to recoup all the costs of the investigation.

The complaint notes that the Biden Center co-sponsored the 2020 Penn China Research Symposiumon January 31, 2020, that included opening remarks by Ambassador Huang Ping, Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, amid the coverup by China of the pandemic of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.