Hours after delivering a swan-song speech to a roaring crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, President Biden was relaxing on a serene, sunny vineyard thousands of miles away in California.
Biden, the first lady and several of their children and grandchildren are spending the week at an 8,000-acre spread owned by major Democratic donor Joe Kiani. The president is scheduled to depart for Delaware on Sunday.
Nestled on a back road in the tawny foothills of Santa Barbara County, the elegant estate is one in a long string of luxury homes owned by wealthy Democratic Party donors that have hosted the Bidens in recent years.
Biden has close ties to Kiani, the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of medical technology company Masimo in Irvine. The president has described the entrepreneur and Democratic mega donor as “one of my closest friends.” Kiani sits on a council that advises the president on science and technology.
The relationship has riled up Republicans, who have raised ethical concerns about Biden vacationing at the homes of Democratic mega donors.
Elected officials, including the president, are generally required to disclose gifts as part of the ethics laws passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal. But officials are not required to disclose “any food, lodging, or entertainment received as personal hospitality.”
Richard Painter, a corporate law professor at the University of Minnesota, said Biden would need to disclose the “free use” of a friend’s house. However, if the friend is there with him then it would not have to be reported.
“This is common that presidents have stayed with friends and so forth,” said Painter, who previously served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “But if it is free use of the house, and President Biden has done that a few times, it does need to go on the report.”
It’s unclear whether Kiani was at the estate during Biden’s vacation. Kiani’s press representative didn’t return calls about the Bidens’ stay.
Biden isn’t the only president who enjoyed the hospitality of a political donor or supporter. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama vacationed at a Martha’s Vineyard estate owned by Chicago investor David Schulte. Martha’s Vineyard also was a popular vacation destination for President Clinton. Sunnylands, the Rancho Mirage estate owned by Walter and Leonore Annenberg, was a presidential destination for decades.
Kiani’s estate is in the foothills of the San Rafael Mountains, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. The property is miles from the highway, accessible on two-lane roads lined by horse paddocks, white fences and canopies of gnarled live oaks.
For decades, the region has attracted celebrities, the wealthy and the intensely private. The Kiani ranch is near Michael Jackson’s former estate, Neverland Ranch, that is now owned by billionaire Democratic donor Ron Burkle, and President Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo is about 15 miles away.
The rhythm of life in the Santa Barbara County wine region has barely changed this week, residents say — although there were ripples of excitement when Secret Service agents were seen picking up sandwiches at Los Olivos Grocery, a local gourmet market and deli in Santa Ynez.
“He and I don’t agree on much, except this place,” said resident Andrew Wilson, who said he did not vote for Biden in 2020. But, he said, waving his hand toward the hills bathed in golden light, “you can’t fault the guy for wanting to be here.”
Biden and his family have made a habit of vacationing at the homes of donors to the Democratic Party. The president and his family spent Thanksgiving together three years in a row at the Nantucket compound of private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, and rang in the New Year in 2023 at the U.S. Virgin Islands home of Democratic donors Bill and Connie Neville.
In 2022, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden spent a week in the summer at a beachfront mansion in South Carolina owned by Democratic donor Maria Allwin. Last summer, the Bidens vacationed in Lake Tahoe at the waterfront home of billionaire Tom Steyer.
Republicans are taking notice. Earlier this year, the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank, asked the Justice Department to investigate Biden’s vacations, saying he failed to disclose them as gifts from donors.
“You do get slipups from here and there now,” Painter said. “I wouldn’t put Biden in the egregious category. I mean, he’s got one or two that probably should have been reported that needed to be.”
Kiani’s 2021 appointment to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology also irked his rivals. Republican members of the House Oversight Committee sought an investigation into that appointment and that of another of a major Democratic donor.
The April 2022 letter, signed by 12 House Republicans, said that Kiani’s firm had received nearly $3 million in federal contracts from three agencies since Biden took office in January 2021. While the firm had received contracts in prior administrations, the members wrote, Kiani’s close ties to Biden created “the appearance that he is benefiting from his political contributions.”
Kiani has been a loyal donor to Democrats for more than two decades, campaign records show. During Biden’s 2020 presidential run, Kiani raised $1.3 million for his campaign, federal filings show.
The billionaire also contributed $1 million to Unite the Country, the super PAC backing Biden. His other contributions to Democratic organizations included $500,000 to the progressive super PAC Priorities USA, $250,000 to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s victory fund, and almost $400,000 to the organization that works to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives.
Kiani’s involvement in politics goes beyond campaign donations.
In 2013, he founded the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to reduce preventable patient deaths in U.S. hospitals. Healthcare has been a key focus in politics. Kiania has testified before Congress and spoken at various events about the cause. Teaming up with the Clinton Foundation, Masimo has been involved in efforts to fight the opioid crisis, hosting discussions about the issue.
“Mr. Kiani’s dream of transforming patient care thrives today as he works with legislators in Washington, D.C., to affect public policy that supports innovation and promotes good healthcare decisions,” his biography on the foundation’s website says.
The foundation hosts an annual summit, which in 2015 included a speech by Biden, who was vice president at the time. Biden told the audience he’s picked Kiani’s brain a lot about medical technology because he’s seen firsthand how much trauma and difficulty people go through. Biden lost his wife and daughter to a car crash and his oldest son, Beau, later died of a brain tumor.
Kiani, who has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, supported Irvine Rep. Katie Porter’s Senate run and spoke out against efforts in 2021 to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He also created a civic engagement platform called A Starting Point with actors Chris Evans and Mark Kassen.
The 59-year-old Iranian-born executive has taken on one of the world’s most powerful tech companies. Masimo sued Apple in 2020, accusing the tech giant of stealing the company’s technology and using it in the Apple Watch. The firm develops wearable health devices, sensors and other products.
Olympic silver medalist and former cyclist Dotsie Bausch first met Kiani more than a decade ago after using Masimo’s pulse oximeter, which measures oxygen levels in the blood. Bausch, who now runs the nonprofit Switch4Good and has consulted for Kiani’s companies, said they connected over their love of sports and a common work ethic.
Bausch said she didn’t have any insight into how Kiani became close friends with Biden but described the entrepreneur as a “giver” who “cares deeply about people.”
“He’s not just a CEO that wants to make a ton of money,” she said.