By Reagan Reese, Daily Caller News Foundation | December 30, 2024
President Joe Biden spent nearly a quarter of his final year in office, 24%, in Delaware, at Camp David or in vacation spots, a Daily Caller review of White House pool reports showed.
Biden spent 89 full and partial days out of the White House in 2024, not counting days he was taking foreign trips for official business. The president’s time out of the office increased after he dropped out of the presidential race, spending a total of 46 full or partial days in Delaware, Camp David, St. Croix, Nantucket and California from August to the end of the year.
The Caller’s count includes the president’s current trip to St. Croix, which the White House has not released the end date of. In 2023, the president stayed until the second of the next year.
The count does not include one trip the president took to Camp David to prepare for the first presidential debate, during which he stayed out of the public eye for nearly a week. The Caller also did not count Biden’s trip to Delaware to recover from COVID-19, during which he also was not seen for a week and dropped out of the presidential race via Twitter.
In August, Biden spent 21 days away from the White House, visiting Delaware for 14 full or partial days and taking six days at the $37 million private residence of Joe Kiani in Santa Ynez, California. An additional day was spent at Camp David. Throughout the entire year, Biden took 27 trips to Delaware.
During his annual trip to Nantucket, the president stayed at David Rubenstein’s $34 million residence, according to White House pool reports.
“It’s a little ironic to be fleshing this out for an internet-based outlet, but commanders-in chief have been able to perform the full range of their duties from anywhere in the world for decades. For example, President Biden was in Delaware when he secured the international deal that brought wrongfully detained Americans like Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan home,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told the Caller.
Bates explained to the Caller that Biden works “around the clock” and has taken “few” vacation days, citing a list of supposed accomplishments as evidence.
“And now, record holiday sales. Merry Christmas!” Bates added.
During some trips, the White House pool reports would give updates on calls and meetings the president conducted throughout the day. Occasionally, the president would answer shouted questions from the press while out of the office.
Biden’s time out of office has decreased from the past two years. A 2022 Daily Caller analysis showed that the president spent nearly 40% of the year in Delaware, Camp David and other vacation spots. In 2023, Biden spent 37% of the year at a vacation spot, a New York Post analysis found. According to the Republican National Committee Research account, as of Dec. 26, Biden has spent 570 days of his presidency on vacation – which is nearly 40%.
According to former CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, former President George W. Bush took 490 full or partial days at his Texas ranch throughout his two terms in office. Former President Ronald Reagan spent 349 full or partial days at his California ranch over his eight years in office. During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump who spent 26% of his presidency on personal trips away from the White House.
Reagan Reese is a white house correspondent at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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