EXCLUSIVE: President Joe Biden’s regular trips to his home state of Delaware have cost taxpayers at least $11 million since the start of his presidency, a Fox News Digital analysis has found.
Biden has made 57 total trips to Delaware, spanning all or part of 185 days, according to data from former CBS correspondent Mark Knoller.
The trips require taxpayer dollars to fund costs associated with the use of either Air Force One or Marine One, as well as security costs for the Secret Service. The president spends time in Delaware at his houses in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach.
Most of the trips involved direct travel between the White House and Delaware. Biden has made 101 flights between the White House or Joint Base Andrews and Delaware — 71 flights using Marine One and 30 using Air Force One, according to Knoller.
For decades, Knoller has kept careful records of various White House statistics and has served as a source of information for reporters — and even the White House itself.
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President Joe Biden rides a bike in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 18, 2022.
(Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
Public documents from the Department of Defense comptroller show that the Marine One choppers used by the president cost between $17,065 and $20,206 per hour. The helicopter trip between the White House and locations in Delaware takes roughly an hour, according to the president’s schedule.
Air Force One’s operational costs are $177,843 per hour, and the trip to Delaware takes roughly 30 minutes, according to the president’s schedule. This puts the total operational costs for the trips, including each method of transportation, at about $4 million.
Documents obtained by the New York Post last year showed a Secret Service cost of $1.96 million on the president’s first 16 trips to Delaware. A per-trip cost from these data applied to the president’s now 57 trips leaves an approximate $7 million tab for taxpayers.
The president has other, quite comfortable options for the weekend. The White House itself is one of the nation’s most beautiful mansions. And the president can also avail himself of the country retreat at Camp David, which is only a half-hour chopper ride away. He has been there 19 times as president, far less often than he goes to Delaware.
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President Biden falls to the ground after riding up to members of the public during a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 18, 2022.
(Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
The $11 million receipt for Biden’s Delaware trips is probably a significant underestimate since it does not tally many other miscellaneous costs. These include spending for additional helicopters that travel along with him, travel to or from military airports before or after an Air Force One flight, and accommodations for staff who accompany him.
The president’s 16 flights to Delaware from states where he was conducting official business are also not included, since travel from those destinations may have not been much more expensive than if Biden had returned to the White House.
Biden, as a senator from 1973 to 2009, would take Amtrak from Delaware to Washington, D.C., every day that the Senate was in session — a habit that earned him the nickname “Amtrak Joe.” He claims this travel included 8,200 round trips and more than 2 million miles. The ticket for much of that time from Washington and Delaware and back was less than $100.
But as president, Biden’s predilection for spending as much time in Delaware as possible is costing taxpayers well more than $200,000 roundtrip.
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President Biden walks on the beach with his daughter, Ashley Biden, and members of his extended family in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 20, 2022.
(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump faced criticism for his regular, expensive travel to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Knoller’s data show that Biden travels home more often, though the hop from Washington to Delaware is shorter than Trump’s trips to Florida or New Jersey.
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Biden’s sojourns in his home state sometimes extend beyond the usual presidential weekend schedule. The president often leaves for Delaware on Thursdays to work from his home on Friday and stays for the weekend. He almost always departs on Monday morning as opposed to Sunday night.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
