Joe Biden reportedly used his friendship with then-University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann to get his granddaughter into the school in 2018, according to texts reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, despite the president’s public opposition to “privilege” in college admissions.
Joe Biden worked with Hunter Biden to get Maisy Biden into UPenn, an Ivy League school with a 5.9% admissions rate and one of America’s most prestigious universities, the Free Beacon reported. (RELATED: DOJ Prosecutors Who Allegedly Refused To Charge Hunter Biden Donated To Joe Biden And Kamala Harris, Records Show)
The admissions game: In 2018 Hunter Biden wanted to get his daughter into the highly selective University of Pennsylvania. What did he do? He had his father, at time former VPOTUS, call the president of the university. It worked. From @SaysSimonson: https://t.co/4R5n6gu8Mm
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 3, 2023
Maisy Biden texted her father, Hunter Biden, on October 31, 2018, about her early application to UPenn. “I applied early decision to Penn today!!” she wrote. Over the following months, Joe and Hunter Biden worked to get Maisy into the school by meeting with Gutmann directly.
“I’m going to try to see Pres GUTMANN tomorrow,” Joe Biden texted Hunter on December 13, 2018. Soon after, Joe Biden texted his son saying that he “had a great talk with Gutmann” and “Maisy still in the game for regular acceptance. But must do well in class this period. It’s real.”
Hunter Biden reportedly told his daughter the positive news and suggested she show interest in playing lacrosse at the school. “I also think it would help if you had lax coach talk to their lax coach,” he said.
“Bottom line is that Guttman made clear that in order for her to explain the 11th grade you had to show improvement in 12th. Which is something I think we would have all liked to know form [sic] the start, but in fairness we were much later in the app process than usual and made it look like we weren’t 100% about Penn,” he added.
In March 2019, Joe Biden reportedly told Hunter that he spoke with the school’s dean of admissions about Maisy’s application. “Spoke with Dean of Admission at PENN yesterday,” Biden said.
“Didn’t tell me but said I’d probably hear from President Guttmann,” Biden continued. “If I hear before 1pm on [March 29, 2019] I’ll call immediately so you can call Maisy.”
Maisy Biden was accepted to UPenn and attended the school from fall 2019 to spring 2023, when Joe Biden attended her commencement ceremony. (RELATED: ‘The Court Misinterpreted The Constitution’: Biden Announces New Plan To Cancel Student Debt After SCOTUS Blow)
The Biden family cultivated a close relationship with Gutmann and UPenn years before Maisy Biden was admitted to the school. Joe Biden and Hunter Biden met with Gutmann on multiple occasions, including a Naval Observatory meeting in April 2016 and a dinner in April 2015, according to emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Joe Biden also worked with UPenn to launch the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., after Biden’s vice presidency. Documents found at the location are part of a special counsel probe into whether Biden mishandled classified information.
The president has come out against legacy admissions and “privilege” in education following the Supreme Court’s decision that race-based college admissions are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“Today, I’m directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build a more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back, practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity,” Biden remarked after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The president nominated Gutmann in July 2021 to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. The Senate confirmed her 54-42 in Jan. 2022 amidRepublican allegations that she had been appointed as part of a “quid pro quo” in relation to Joe Biden’s teaching appointment at the university.