Jen Psaki Defends Pres. Joe Biden's Refusal to Release Visitor Logs From Delaware Homes, Where He Spent 28% of His 1st Year

Press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday defended the White House's refusal to disclose visitor logs from President Joe Biden's Delaware residences.

During the daily press briefing, Psaki pointed to Biden's dead wife and child to sidestep questions about why the administration won't release visitor logs from Biden's Delaware homes.

"Well, the president goes to Delaware because it's his home. It's also where his son and former wife are buried and it's a place that is close to his heart," said Psaki, adding that "a lot of presidents" visit their homes when they are president.

Daily Mail reported that Biden had spent more than a quarter of his first year as president back home in Delaware. That includes visiting his home in Wilmington and the family beach house in Rehoboth.

According to Associated Press, Biden logged 99 days in Delaware and spent half his weekends there - a total of 26 out of 52. Biden has only spent 10 weekends at the White House. He also favors going to Camp David, spending 13 weekends at the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

According to conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, this means that Joe Biden has spent 28 percent of his presidency back home in Delaware.

Joe Biden's Visitor Logs Compared to Donald Trump

Breitbart News reported that former President Donald Trump also visited his own properties about as often as Joe Biden and did the same thing with the visitor logs.

Former White House communications director Michael Dubke said Trump's decision not to release the visitor logs was partly due to "grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually."

In 2013, Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote as a judge in an appeals court ruling that presidents can pick and choose what they release about visitor logs.

Garland noted that a president's constitutional right to confidential communications means that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to visitor logs held by the Secret Service.

In May, the Biden administration partially released the White House visitor logs to make good on Biden's commitment "to restore integrity, transparency, and trust in government." But despite the pledge, Psaki said in August that the White House would no longer make the logs public.

Biden's first wife, Neilia, and their 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash in December 1972, shortly after he was elected as a senator. In 2015, Biden's son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer, Washington Times reported.

The three were buried at a cemetery on a Catholic church ground in Delaware.

Joe Biden's Delaware Homes

In 1996, Joe Biden purchased four acres of secluded, lakefront land in the upscale suburb of Greenville in Wilmington, where he built his 6,850-square-foot home. The president bought the lot for $350,000. The property is now estimated to be worth more than $1 million.

The Biden family also owns a 4,786-square-foot home with six bedrooms and five baths in Rehoboth. They paid $2.74 million for the house in 2017.

Earlier this year, the White House also defended his travel back to his Wilmington home amid a spike in COVID cases.

"That's where he's lived for many years. And as any President of the United States does, he takes a private airplane called 'Air Force One' to travel there. That is, of course, unique from most Americans. But I think most Americans would also see that as a unique circumstance," Psaki said in March.

Last February, during a CNN town hall, Joe Biden has described the White House as a "gilded cage."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Joe Biden Departs the White House for a Weekend in Delaware - From VOA News