Biden omits free vacations at million dollar homes from ethics forms despite Clarence Thomas outcry

WASHINGTON — President Biden failed again to note his free stays at the vacation homes of rich patrons on annual ethics forms made public this week — making the omission days after ProPublica was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for chronicling Supreme Court justices’ non-disclosures under the same transparency rule.

Biden took four vacations at the homes of wealthy supporters in 2023, none of which were listed as gifts on the forms signed by the president . The annual paperwork must be submitted by federal officeholders — including judges and presidents — under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

“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 chief White House 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,” added Painter, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022.

“So you either have to pay for the house, make sure the owner is present or put it on the form. Those are your three options.”

Biden and his family began and ended 2023 with free stays over the New Year’s holiday at the beachfront St. Croix home of Bill and Connie Neville, which is typically listed as a VRBO rental.

Bill Neville is the founder of the US Viking software company, which makes an online content platform called ENPS marketed by The Associated Press and used by various news outlets.

Biden also enjoyed a six-day Thanksgiving stay at billionaire hedge fund founder David Rubenstein’s Nantucket compound last year and nine days in August at billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer’s waterfront Lake Tahoe retreat in Nevada.

Biden’s time at Rubenstein’s compound is believed to have been unpaid, though neither party has confirmed it.

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The White House initially claimed that Biden would pay “fair market value” for Steyer’s home, resulting in a short-lived local investigation due to the moneyman’s lack of a rental permit. That probe was mysteriously dropped and the terms of the alleged rental have not been disclosed.

The homeowners are believed to have been present for none of the four trips, as has been the case for similar free stays spanning Biden’s more than three-year presidency and eight years as vice president.

First lady Jill Biden also scored tickets to cheer on her beloved Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, for which she is not believed to have paid and which also were not disclosed.

Opinions vary on whether those items should have been listed, though Vice President Kamala Harris did disclose tickets provided by ESPN to December’s Celebration Bowl college football game between Harris’ alma mater Howard University and Florida A&M. The ducats cost $1,890, according to Harris’ disclosure.

Intentionally leaving gifts off the forms could put Biden or his staff in criminal jeopardy for making false statements — a crime punishable by up to five years in prison under 18 U.S. Code § 1001, Painter said.

In the case of Steyer’s home, “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,” said the ethics expert.

“If [Biden] knew the gift schedule was incomplete and someone told him, he would have the same liability.”

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At issue is different interpretations of a carveout that allows officials to not disclose “any food, lodging, or entertainment received as personal hospitality.”

Biden and Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both of whose trips were subject to an investigative series by ProPublica, interpreted the policy as meaning they didn’t have to list the items.

Painter and other experts — including Walter Shaub, who led the Obama-era Office of Government Ethics, which administers the disclosure process for the executive branch — say that a homeowner has to be present for a free vacation to be exempted from disclosure, though others disagree.

“I have always been of the view that the exception cannot be used when the friend is not there, and I think arguments to the contrary make no sense,” Shaub previously told The Post. “It’s not the rich-friend-who-can-give-you-stuff exception. It’s supposed to apply to things like your friend’s kids’ wedding or a home cooked meal with your friend.”

Others, including Kedric Payne, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and a former Office of Congressional Ethics lawyer, disagree. Payne told The Post last year that he believes the executive branch “does not have a requirement that a host remain on the premises for the personal hospitality exemption to apply.”

Mark Paoletta, the general counsel of the White House budget office under President Donald Trump, said there clearly are two standards applied to scrutiny of such exceptions.

“This is another intentional refusal to disclose gifts by President Biden. His habit of taking over donors’ homes for vacations and not paying nor disclosing is consistent with his family’s long history of grift and corruption,” said Paoletta, a longtime friend and defender of Thomas, whose free travel with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow was the primary focus of ProPublica’s reporting.

Crow, who was present for some of Thomas’ travel, had no known business before the Supreme Court.

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“Some liberal ethics experts have called Biden’s repeated omissions illegal and a potential criminal violation of law. And this year, Biden also failed to disclose Jill Biden’s use of the luxury box at the Super Bowl. They aren’t ashamed and don’t even bother hiding it because they know the liberal media won’t say a word,” Paoletta said.

“Where is the leftwing, billionaire-funded ProPublica, which was laughably awarded a Pulitzer for its dishonest agenda-driven ‘ethics’ reporting on conservative Supreme Court justices? Stone cold silent. They are completely fine with Biden’s actual, willful violations of the law. Double standard doesn’t begin to describe the hypocrisy on display.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said there needs to be federal reform to heighten the consequences for gift omissions.

“The radical left’s silence on President Biden’s many ethics issues is deafening,” Comer said. “From President Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes, all the ‘loans’ the Bidens received from Democrat donors, to President Biden’s free vacation stays at his donors’ homes, it’s clear we need to reform federal ethics laws to provide greater transparency to the American people.”

The same law governs presidential and judicial ethics disclosures, though different entities enforce them.

Thomas said he was advised that the ethics law’s “personal hospitality” exception meant that he didn’t have to report the trips or reimburse for private jet flights. Reporting showed Crow also provided financial support to Thomas’ mother and great nephew.

Prominent Democrats — including Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — demanded that Thomas resign or be impeached and the US Judicial Conference last year tightened rules to specify that resorts didn’t count as personal residences exempt from reporting.

“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking – almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

A White House official told The Post Thursday: “The President and First Lady did not have any required disclosures of gifts or travel reimbursements during the reporting period (January to December 2023).  Under the ethics rules, gifts of personal hospitality from friends, such as food, lodging, and entertainment are not required to be listed on the report.”

But Painter, who frequently criticizes leaders of both parties on ethics issues, said he doesn’t think there needs to be additional legal reforms to clarify that such vacation stays must be listed.

“Most of these billionaires want something, other than just being able to be friends with famous people,” Painter said. “President Biden should set a good example by either paying for the house or fixing those forms.”

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