President Joe Biden and his family are vacationing over the next five days at a $37 million California ranch owned by billionaire donor Joe Kiani, whose appointment to a federal advisory board in 2021 brought ethics concerns.
The White House described Kiani, the CEO of medical technology company Masimo, as a "friend," indicating the Bidens will stay for free at the Santa Ynez ranch, reported The New York Post Tuesday.
The president traveled to Kiani's estate after his late-night speech Monday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In addition to Biden and the first lady, several of Biden's other family members are also on vacation at the ranch, including his son Hunter, daughter Ashley, their spouses, and six of the president's grandchildren.
Kiani, 59, was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology after pouring cash into Biden's campaigns and his family foundation.
The council advises the executive branch on policy concerns, which would also potentially involve Kiani's company.
In April, 2022, House Republicans voiced their concerns about Kiani being on the board, telling the White House budget director, Shalanda Young, that it appeared he was "benefiting from his political contributions."
The letter, signed by a dozen House Republicans, said that 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."
Further, the congress members, led by Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and James Comer, R-Ky., pointed out that Kiani's company received almost $3 million in federal government contracts since Biden took office in 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," the letter said.
Masimo manufactures medical patient monitoring devices, health-tracking wristbands, and home baby monitor cameras. The company, which is traded on the Nasdaq exchange, has an annual revenue topping $2 billion.
Biden also in 2022 gave Kiani tickets to a White House state dinner featuring French President Emmanuel Macron.
Further, during a September 2023, event in San Francisco for the advisory board, Biden praised Kiani for "finding and implementing solutions to reduce medical errors and other problems for patients' experiences."
Forbes has estimated Kiani's net worth at $1.1 billion.
Kiani and the White House did not offer comment.
Biden and his family have stayed at other wealthy donors' homes several times in the past, and ethics experts have criticized Biden for not disclosing his trips on annual reports.
"You can't have the president just going around using people's houses for free without disclosure," Richard Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, told the Post last year. "That's no better than a Supreme Court justice staying on a yacht for free without disclosure."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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