(Law Enforcement Today) The New York Post reported that Joe Biden refused to reveal his stays at the vacation homes of rich mega-donors in apparent violation of federal law. The revelation comes after leftist-rag ProPublica was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for attacking conservative Supreme Court justices for ostensibly the same thing.
The Post report says that Biden took four vacations where he stayed at the ritzy vacation homes of wealthy campaign donors with none listed as gifts on the forms he signed. Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, all federal officeholders, including judges and yes, the president, are required to submit the paperwork annually.
“If there’s a deliberate omission of a gift, an intentional lie, that can very well be prosecuted as a criminal offense,” said Richard Painter, who served as White House chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush.
“It just seems to me to be stupid to leave it off the form because everyone knows about [presidential] trips and everyone’s going to ask who paid,” Painter added. As a point of information, Painter ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022.
In 2023, the Bidens stayed for free at the St. Croix home of Bill and Connie Neville for the New Year’s holiday, and ended the same year at the beachfront property, which the Neville’s typically list as a VRBO rental. Newsmax reports that Neville is the founder of US Viking, a software company that makes ENPS, which is news production software sold by the Associated Press.
President Joe Biden omitted his free vacation stays at the homes of wealthy supporters from annual ethics forms that were disclosed to the public this week, in violation of a 40-year-old federal transparency rule. https://t.co/1elPciES4L
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) May 18, 2024
Last year, the Biden’s spent six days over Thanksgiving at the Nantucket home of billionaire hedge fund founder David Rubenstein, and nine days last August at the waterfront retreat on Lake Tahoe, Nevada of billionaire climate investor and activist Tom Steyer.
The New York Post reported that the Biden trip to Rubenstein home was unpaid, however neither Biden nor Rubenstein has confirmed that.
When it was revealed that Biden would be staying at Steyer’s retreat, the media was told that he would pay “fair market value” for use of the property, however a local investigation revealed that Steyer did not have a permit to rent out the property. For what was likely political pressure, the investigation into the matter was quickly dropped and no rental terms have ever been revealed.
The Post reported that it is not believed any of the billionaire property owners were present for any of the four trips the Biden’s took in 2023.
Painter told The Post that deliberately omitting gifts from the ethics forms could open up Biden or his staff to criminal liability. It should be noted that Biden’s Justice Department is currently trying to prosecute former President Trump, claiming that presidents do not have immunity from criminal prosecution.
“If somebody told the White House Counsel’s Office, which prepares the gift schedule, ‘That doesn’t need to go on there because the president paid for the trip,’ and then the White House Counsel’s Office relies on that in drafting the…gift schedule, it is then given to the president and the president signs–whoever it was told the White House Counsel’s Office that doesn’t need to go on there because the president paid for the trip, if that person knew that was not true and knowingly told a lie to the White House Counsel’s Office, whoever that person is, they violated 18 United States Code 1001, the false statements statute,” Painter said of the Bidens’ stay at Steyer’s home.
“If [Biden] knew the gift schedule was incomplete and someone told him, he would have the same liability,” Painter added.
Under 18 USC § 1001, violating that regulation is punishable by up to five years in prison.
