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?At least 10 current and former high?-ranking Biden administration officials — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken — worked at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, the president’s namesake Washington, DC-based think tank where classified documents were discovered in November, according to a report.?

The foreign policy institution associated with the University of Pennsylvania counted Blinken, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl and White House counselor Steven Richetti as former employees, Fox News reported Wednesday.

?Blinken and ?Richettei were managing directors of the center while Kahl was a strategic consultant.

In addition to the trio, other former workers at the center include Spencer Boyer, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO policy, who was a senior fellow. ??J??effrey Prescott, the deputy to the US ambassador to the United Nations, was a strategic consultant; ??Ariana Berengaut, a senior adviser to the national security adviser, was a center director; ????Michael Carpenter, the US representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was a managing director; ??Juan Gonzalez, a special assistant to the president, was a senior fellow; and ????Carlyn Reichel, a special assistant to Biden and senior director for speechwriting and strategic initiatives, was the director of communications, according to Fox. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is among a number of administration staffers who worked at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Sarah Silbiger – Pool via CNP / Steven Richetti and President Biden at the White House on July 22, 2021. Richetti is among administration staffers who worked at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.AFP via Getty Images

Brian McKeon, a senior director at the center, was the deputy secretary of state for management and resources until he stepped down last month. see also Intel memos on Iran, Ukraine among docs found at Biden office: report

Since taking office, Biden has named longtime Penn president Amy Gutmann as the US ambassador to Germany while tapping David Cohen, the former head of the school’s board of trustees, as ambassador to Canada.

Biden praised Gutmann at the opening ceremony of the Penn Biden Center in February 2018 when he was interviewed by NBC News senior foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, another Penn alum. 

“??President Gutmann, when you came to me before the [Obama] administration was up and asked me whether I [would] consider to be a professor at Penn, the first thought I had was that it sounded like an intriguing idea, but it became even more intriguing after the outcome of the [2016] election when you said I could bring along with me some serious, serious people,” Biden said.

“Serious staff people and much more than staff and they start with Tony Blinken and Steve Ricchetti and others, so thank you for allowing me to bring along some really, really bright people.” Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, once worked for the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Shutterstock

L?awyers for the president found 10 documents with classified markings in a locked closet at the center on Nov. 2, 2022. The papers reportedly were mixed in with Biden family documents — including details of funeral arrangements for the president’s son Beau, who died in 2015.  see also Redacted affidavit behind Trump Mar-a-Lago raid finally released by DOJ

Some of the documents, which dated from between 2013 and 2016 when Biden was vice president, were labeled “Top Secret” and included material about Ukraine and Iran, according to CNN.

Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said in a statement Monday night that Biden used the office from “mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign” in April 2019. 

He said the National Archives and Records Administration was immediately informed and the agency retrieved the documents the next day. 

Biden, speaking Tuesday in Mexico City, where he was attending a summit with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said he was “surprised to learn” that the classified documents were taken to the office.

?”?I dont know whats in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were. Ive turned over the boxes, theyve turned over the boxes to the Archives, and were cooperating fully, cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon and therell be more detail at that time?,” he told reporters.  President Biden speaks at the University of Pennsylvania on March 30, 2017.

Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Chicago US Attorney John Lausch, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, to examine the documents and he has already submitted a preliminary report. Start your day with all you need to know

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But Republicans are pointing out a double standard in the way the Biden materials are being treated compared with the way classified documents discovered at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort are being handled. 

Hundreds of classified documents were found at the former president’s Palm Beach resort in an FBI raid on Aug. 8 and Garland later named a special counsel, veteran prosecutor Jack Smith, to lead the investigation.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said Tuesday that his panel will launch an investigation into the Biden documents and sent letters to the National Archives and White House seeking more information.  

He said the National Archives failed to publicly disclose the discovery of the classified documents and that Biden may have violated the law days before the midterm elections. 

“Meanwhile, NARA instigated a public and unprecedented FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago? ?? ?former President Trumps home? ?? ?to retrieve presidential records,” ?Comer wrote in the letter. “NARAs inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias at the agency.” 

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Ohtani’s walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

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Ohtani's walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

LOS ANGELES — Aside from his ability to pitch and hit and stretch the boundaries of imagination, Shohei Ohtani has displayed another singular trait in his time in the major leagues: an ability to meet the moment. Or, perhaps, for the moment to meet him.

And so on Wednesday night, with his Los Angeles Dodgers looking to stay unbeaten, the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and more than 50,000 fans standing and clenching the Ohtani bobbleheads they lined up hours in advance for, Ohtani approached the batter’s box — and his teammates expected greatness.

“He’s going to end this right here,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said he thought to himself.

“We knew,” starting pitcher Blake Snell said. “It’s just what he does.”

Validation came instantly. Ohtani stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Raisel Iglesias near the outside corner and shot it toward straightaway center field, 399 feet away, for a walk-off home run, sending the Dodgers to a 6-5, come-from-behind victory over the reeling Atlanta Braves.

“I don’t think anybody didn’t expect him to hit a walk-off home run there,” Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman said. “It’s just a question of where he’d hit it.”

The Dodgers are now 8-0, topping the 1933 New York Yankees of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the longest winning streak to begin a season for a reigning champion. The Braves, meanwhile, are 0-7, the type of record no team has ever recovered from to make the playoffs. And Ohtani, with three home runs and a 1.126 OPS this season, just keeps meeting moments.

“He’s pretty good, huh?” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “It’s Shohei. He’s going to do that. He’s going to do things better than that.”

On Aug. 23 last year, Ohtani reached the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam. Five days later, the Dodgers staged a second giveaway of his bobblehead — one that saw his now-famous dog, Decoy, handle the ceremonial first pitch — and Ohtani led off with a home run. On Sept. 19, Ohtani clinched his first postseason berth and ascended into the unprecedented 50/50 club with one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — six hits, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. Barely two weeks later, he homered in his first playoff game.

When Ohtani came up on Wednesday, he had what he described as a simple approach.

“I was looking for a really good pitch to hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If I didn’t get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk.”

Of course, though, he got a good pitch.

And, of course, he sent it out.

“You just feel that he’s going to do something special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I just like the way he’s not pressing. He’s in the strike zone, and when he does that, there’s just no one better.”

The Dodgers began their much-anticipated season with a couple of breezy wins over the Chicago Cubs from Japan, even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them. They returned home, brought iconic rapper Ice Cube out to present the World Series trophy on one afternoon, received their rings on another and swept a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Then came the Braves, and the Dodgers swept them, too — even though Freeman, nursing an ankle injury caused from slipping in the shower, didn’t participate.

The Dodgers already have two walk-offs and six comeback wins this season.

Wednesday’s effort left Roberts “a little dumbfounded.”

A nightmarish start defensively, highlighted by two errant throws from Muncy, spoiled Snell’s start and put them behind 5-0 after the first inning and a half. But the Dodgers kept inching closer. They trailed by just two in the eighth and put runners on second and third with two out. Muncy came to bat with his batting average at just .083. He had used the ballyhooed “Torpedo” bat for his first three plate appearances, didn’t like how it altered his swing plane, grabbed his usual bat for a showdown against Iglesias and laced a game-tying double into the right-center-field gap.

An inning later, Ohtani ended it.

“Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team,” Ohtani said after recording his fourth career walk-off hit. “I just think that’s allowing us to come back in these games to win.”

The Dodgers’ 8-0 start has allowed them to stay just ahead of the 7-0 San Diego Padres and the 5-1 San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Tack on the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) and the Colorado Rockies (1-4), and this marks the first time in the divisional era that an entire division has combined for at least 25 wins and no more than seven losses, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers’ and Padres’ starts mark just the fifth season in major league history with multiple teams starting 7-0 or better, and the first time since 2003.

The Dodgers famously overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Padres in the NL Division Series last year, then rode that fight to their first full-season championship since 1988.

That fight hasn’t let up.

“It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we’re never out of a game and we’re resilient, and we’ve been carrying it into this season,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun to watch. The guys don’t give up. Bad things have happened, and no one’s really been down or out on themselves. Everyone’s just, ‘All right, here we go, next inning, let’s get after it.’ The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It’s been making it really, really fun to play.”

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‘Reason he’s here’: Crochet delivers for Red Sox

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'Reason he's here': Crochet delivers for Red Sox

BALTIMORE — Garrett Crochet gave the Boston Red Sox an immediate return on their investment.

In his first start since agreeing to a $170 million, six-year contract, the left-hander pitched a career-best eight innings as the Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Wednesday night. Crochet also threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high.

“My first start in college I went eight, and I haven’t sniffed it since,” Crochet said.

Crochet (1-0) gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his first victory since the offseason trade that sent him from the Chicago White Sox to Boston.

“That’s the reason he’s here,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “That’s the reason we committed to him.”

Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA last season, a bright spot on a Chicago team that lost 121 games. He threw 146 innings, which was double his previous career total since his debut in 2020.

Then Crochet was dealt to the Red Sox, and they made their long-term commitment to the 25-year-old earlier this week.

“Going back to when the trade went through, we knew Boston was a place where we would love to be long term,” Crochet said. “Credit to the front office for staying diligent, and my agency as well.”

Now the question is less about where he’ll pitch and more about how well. He’s off to a nice start in that regard.

“I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride. In college, you’re playing to get drafted, and once you’re in the big leagues, you’re playing to stay in the big leagues,” Crochet said. “So to have this security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it.”

The news all around was good for Boston on Wednesday.

It reached a $60 million, eight-year deal with young infielder Kristian Campbell, and he went out and doubled twice against the Orioles.

And Rafael Devers ended a 21-at-bat hitless streak to start the season with an RBI double in the fifth inning. He finished with two hits and no strikeouts.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Death of Gardner’s son pinned to carbon monoxide

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Death of Gardner's son pinned to carbon monoxide

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica said Wednesday night.

Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said 14-year-old Miller Gardner was tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.

When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.

“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.

The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the boy’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.

Gardner died March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.

Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.

Another line of investigation centered around whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.

Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008 to 2021.

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