Hours after delivering his final speech to a roaring crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, President Biden was relaxing in a serene, sun-drenched vineyard thousands of miles away in California.
Biden, the first lady and several of their children and grandchildren will spend the week at an 8,000-acre estate owned by major Democratic donor Joe Kiani. The president is scheduled to leave for Delaware on Sunday.
Located on a back road in the tan hills of Santa Barbara County, the elegant property is one of a long line of luxury homes owned by wealthy Democratic Party donors that have housed the Bidens in recent years.
Biden has close ties to Kiani, the billionaire founder and chief executive of the medical technology company Masimo in Irvine. The president has described the businessman and major Democratic donor as “one of my closest friends.” Kiani sits on a council that advises the president on science and technology matters.
The relationship has rankled Republicans, who have raised ethical concerns about Biden vacationing at the homes of major Democratic donors.
Elected officials, including the president, are generally required to disclose gifts they received as part of ethics laws passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal. But they are not required to disclose “any meals, lodging or entertainment received as personal hospitality.”
Richard Painter, a corporate law professor at the University of Minnesota, said Biden would have to disclose “free use” of a friend’s home. However, if the friend is there with him, he would not have to report it.
“It’s common for presidents to stay at friends’ houses and so on,” said Painter, who previously served as the top White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. “But if it’s free use of the house — and President Biden has done that a few times — it needs to be in the report.”
It's unclear whether Kiani was at the property during Biden's vacation. Kiani's press representative did not return calls about the Bidens' stay.
Biden is not the only president to have enjoyed the hospitality of a donor or political supporter. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama vacationed at a Martha's Vineyard estate owned by Chicago investor David Schulte. Martha's Vineyard was also 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 nestled in the foothills of the San Rafael Mountains, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. The property is miles off the highway and is accessible by two-lane roads lined with horse paddocks, white picket fences and canopies of gnarled oak trees.
For decades, the region has attracted celebrities, the wealthy and the more reserved. Kiani Ranch is near Michael Jackson's former estate, Neverland Ranch, now owned by billionaire Democratic donor Ron Burkle, and President Reagan's Rancho del Cielo is about 15 miles away.
The pace of life in Santa Barbara County wine country has barely changed this week, residents say, though there were some waves of excitement when Secret Service agents were seen picking up sandwiches at Los Olivos Grocery, a local gourmet market and delicatessen in Santa Ynez.
“He and I disagree on a lot of things, 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 blame the guy for wanting to be here.”
Biden and his family have a tradition of spending the holidays at the homes of Democratic Party donors. The president and his family spent Thanksgiving together for three years in a row at the Nantucket residence of private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, and they 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 summer week at a waterfront mansion in South Carolina owned by Democratic donor Maria Allwin. Last summer, the Bidens vacationed in Lake Tahoe at billionaire Tom Steyer’s waterfront home.
Republicans are taking note. Earlier this year, the Center for American Renewal, a conservative think tank, asked the Justice Department to investigate Biden’s vacations, alleging that he had failed to disclose that they were gifts from donors.
“Now mistakes are made from time to time,” Painter said. “I wouldn’t put Biden in the most egregious category. I mean, he has one or two mistakes that probably should have been reported and needed to be reported.”
Kiani’s 2021 appointment to the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology also rankled his rivals. Republican members of the House Oversight Committee called for an investigation into that appointment and another of a major Democratic donor.
The April 2022 letter, signed by 12 House Republicans, said 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 previous 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 campaign, Kiani raised $1.3 million for his campaign, federal records 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 nearly $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, she 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 on the cause. In collaboration with the Clinton Foundation, Masimo has been involved in efforts to combat the opioid crisishosting debates on the topic.
“Mr. Kiani’s dream of transforming patient care continues today as he works with policymakers in Washington, D.C., to influence public policies that support innovation and promote good health care decisions,” his bio 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 had consulted Kiani extensively on medical technology because he had seen firsthand how much trauma and hardship people go through. Biden lost his wife and daughter in a car accident 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 bid and spoke out against efforts In 2021, she ran to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom. She also created a civic engagement platform called A Starting Point with actors Chris Evans and Mark Kassen.
The 59-year-old Iranian 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 met Kiani more than a decade ago after using Masimo’s pulse oximeter, which measures blood oxygen levels. Bausch, who now runs the nonprofit Switch4Good and has consulted for Kiani’s companies, said they connected over their love of sports and a shared work ethic.
Bausch said she had no idea how Kiani became close friends with Biden, but described the businessman as a “donor” who “cares deeply about people.”
“He's not just a CEO who wants to make a lot of money,” he said.
