The former chief investigator for the Department of Education said the agency noticed a "Startling" spike in Chinese donations to the University of Pennsylvania after President Joe Biden opened his think tank at the school in 2017.
Moore's testimony comes as UPenn and the Penn Biden Center face scrutiny over the surge in foreign donations, many of them anonymous, that coincided with the think tank's opening and President Joe Biden's election.
UPenn has said that no foreign donations were earmarked for the Penn Biden Center and that the think tank is supported by the school's general budget.
Under federal law, schools that receive government support are required to disclose their overseas donations to the Department of Education.
The former Education Department official told the committee that his office declined to investigate the donations because there was no evidence that UPenn was violating any of the agency's laws by accepting the funding.
Several high-profile Biden officials worked at the think tank before joining the administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who served as the Penn Biden Center's director.
The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, has said the donations raise concerns about foreign influence-buying and called on the Department of Education to release the names of the anonymous funders.
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