Biden On Vacation Again. Who Is Running The Country?

 After spending five days enjoying a vacation at the home of a billionaire Democrat donor, President Joe Biden headed for his Rehoboth beach house in Delaware for at least another three days, prompting the question of who is actually running the country?

On August 10, the Republican National Committee posted on X, “Biden — who held just one public event this week — is currently lounging on the beach in Delaware. He has spent 40% of his entire presidency on vacation. Who is running the country?”

 

Biden spent five days last week at the 8,000-acre home of billionaire donor Joe Kiani, the CEO of medical technology company Masimo, in Santa Ynez, California, north of Santa Barbara. Biden has described Kiani as “one of my closest friends.”

 

According to Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Kiana donated $1 million to the Biden Foundation in 2017, $750,000 to the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, and $1 million to the Biden Inaugural Committee. Concerned about the ties between Biden and Kiani, they wrote a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in April 2022 that stated:

We are conducting oversight of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) role in ensuring that government contracts and loans are not inappropriately awarded to President Biden’s political donors. … On September 22, 2021, Joe Kiani, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Masimo received an appointment to the influential President’s Council on Science and Technology (PCAST).  Mr. Kiani is a prolific Democratic donor, contributing over $1 million to the Biden Foundation in 2017, $750,000 to the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, and $1 million to the Biden Inaugural Committee. 

In addition to receiving an appointment to PCAST, Mr. Kiani’s company Masimo has received nearly $3 million in federal government contracts since January 2021. Several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have awarded contracts to Masimo.While Masimo has received government contracts in previous Administrations, Mr. Kiani’s close ties to President Biden, including an appointment to a White House board creates the appearance that he is benefiting from his political contributions.

 

In November 2023, Biden told a factory worker that a device he was carrying looked similar to the “nuclear football,” the briefcase the president of the United States can use to communicate and authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Biden joked about the “nuclear football”: “It has the codes to blow up the world.”