Joe Biden Takes 6th Weekend Away From White House In His First 9 Weeks As POTUS

President Joe Biden has reportedly been making frequent weekend trips back to his home in Delaware — and last weekend was his fifth trip out of the White House on a weekend since he became president on January 20.

The Democratic president left Friday afternoon for his hometown, also marking the sixth weekend that he is away from the capital in his nine weeks as chief executive.  

White House staff bumped up the president’s Friday schedule “by four hours” according to a Breitbart report, so he could depart early that day. 

“President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden left the White House Friday afternoon, with plans to spend the weekend at their home in Delaware,” Voice of America (VOA) tweeted.

“Tentative plans for a visit last weekend were scrubbed by Senate action on the coronavirus relief plan,” it added.

Biden also took a weekend trip to Delaware on the weekends of March 13, February 27 and also on February 6. The Democratic president also reportedly left the White House for his home in Greenville, Delaware, an upscale suburb of Wilmington.

President Biden and his family also reportedly spent two weekends away from the capital to go to Camp David in Maryland since taking office — which was the weekend of February 13 and another trip out on March 20.

Psaki: Delaware is Biden’s “home”

The White House has earlier defended the Democratic president’s frequent trips away from the White House. 

Earlier this month, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about Biden’s frequent trips to Delaware — which sparked criticisms from some Republicans. 

Psaki defended Biden’s travels saying Delaware is “home” for Biden and not Washington D.C. where American chief executive’s reside.

“The president lives in Wilmington. It’s his home,” Psaki said on March 5. “That’s where he’s lived for many, many years.”

“And as you know, as any president of the United States does, he takes a private airplane called Air Force One, to travel there,” she added, noting that this is a “unique” privilege than most Americans. 

“But I think most Americans would see that as a unique circumstance.”

Biden took more trips than Obama, Trump at similar period

Unlike his two predecessors, after last weekend, Breitbart noted that the Democratic president will have spent “six weekends and more than two dozen resting days out of the White House” since he took office nine weeks ago — or more trips than both former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump during the same period into their presidency.

For instance, former Democratic President Obama rarely traveled back to his home in Hawaii, although his family regularly traveled to the same places for winter and summer breaks including sunny spots like California and Florida. Over his eight-year presidency, the Obamas reportedly spent $85 million on vacation costs.

In comparison, at this point in his presidency, former President President Trump made five trips to his home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida — including a trip for the Red Cross Ball held at his property and one diplomatic trip with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Since taking office as president, the former Republican chief executive didn’t return to his home in New York until May 4, 2017 or 15 weeks after his inauguration on January 21 that year. 

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.