President Biden failed to list free vacations at the homes of businesspeople on his annual financial disclosure form this week — drawing a rebuke from ethicists and Republicans amid an ongoing political firestorm over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ similar non-reporting of free trips from a businessman.
Biden enjoyed three beach getaways at the homes of the wealthy and politically connected owners during the past-year reporting period.
In two instances, Biden is known not to have paid the owner and in the third case it’s suspected the president did not pay.
Ethics experts Walter Shaub, who led the Obama-era Office of Government Ethics, and Richard Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, say free vacation-home stays need to be disclosed if the homeowner isn’t present — and it appears they were not — because a “personal hospitality” exception would not apply.
“The homeowner has to be a personal friend of the president or first lady and be present during the stay — otherwise that goes on the form. There’s no excuse not to have it on the form,” Painter, now a University of Minnesota law professor, told The Post.
Read more at https://nypost.com/2023/05/18/biden-omits-free-vacations-from-financial-forms/
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