President Joe Biden is spending his Friday in Philadelphia, where he'll be delivering remarks on the economy and speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. One of his old friends will be in the city as well.
Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania president for 18 years and now the ambassador to Germany, is also in town for the naming of Gutmann College House, formerly known as the New College House West. Biden and Gutmann share a long history of collaboration, though it's unclear if the two will meet during their shared visits.
BIDEN TEAM BROKE FIRST RULE OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS ON CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, EXPERTS SAY
Gutmann helped Biden establish the Penn Biden Center think tank in Washington, D.C., in 2018. She also named Biden a professor at the school after he left the vice presidency, a position for which he was paid $911,000, though he did not teach any classes.
“Today we inaugurate the Penn Biden Center to support an interconnected world that is open and secure, dynamic and free,” Gutmann said in a release when the think tank launched. “Today we launch the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Around the globe there is a dire need for innovative well-informed leadership, global leadership, leadership that is outreaching."
Speaking at the ribbon cutting, Biden added, “It is just a great, great honor to be associated with what I think is one of the finest universities in the world.”
Once Biden became president, he named Gutmann as the ambassador to Germany.
The same day, Biden named David Cohen, former chairman of Penn's Board of Trustees, ambassador to Canada. In addition to the professorship and think tank, Biden's son Beau Biden graduated from the Ivy League school, and Biden toured the UPenn campus last October with his granddaughter Natalie Biden and current school president Elizabeth Magill.
The Penn Biden Center has been in the news since early this year when it was reported that classified documents were found there on Nov. 2. The FBI later searched the center in mid-November, though the public didn't learn about the search until it was leaked to CBS News on Jan. 31.
On Friday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks on the economy at the Belmont Water Treatment Center in Philadelphia before speaking at the Sheraton Philadelphia hotel at a DNC fundraiser. Gutmann met with Harris's husband Doug Emhoff earlier this week when he visited Germany.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House to see if Biden will be meeting with Gutmann.
The Penn Biden Center is located in Washington, near the U.S. Capitol, but is considered part of the University of Pennsylvania and has drawn intense scrutiny for its strong ties to China.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Records indicate that the University of Pennsylvania amassed millions from foreign countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and more. Following Biden's appointment as an honorary professor, donations from foreign entities exploded from $31 million in 2016 to over $100 million in 2019, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
This included about $61 million in gifts and contracts stemming from China between 2017 and 2019, according the report. Some of the foreign donations to the institution were marked as anonymous.