Bidens back at private equity billionaire’s $20M Nantucket pad for Thanksgiving

For the second straight year, President Biden and his family will spend Thanksgiving at the Nantucket home of private-equity billionaire David Rubenstein — and Biden’s 2024 plans could be among the dinner table discussion topics.

Joe Biden, his wife Jill, and other family members were set to fly to the upscale Massachusetts island on Air Force One later Tuesday and remain there until Sunday, the White House confirmed over the weekend.

While there, the Bidens plan to stay at Rubenstein’s sprawling, $20 million waterfront home, the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror reported.

Biden indicated earlier this month that the upcoming holiday season would be a prime opportunity for him to discuss running for re-election in 2024.

“My intention is that I run again,” he told reporters on Nov. 9 in the wake of the midterm elections. “But I’m a great respecter of fate. And this is, ultimately, a family decision.  I think everybody wants me to run, but … we’re going to have discussions about it.”

David Rubenstein's sprawling Nantucket home
The Biden family are staying at the sprawling, $20 million Nantucket home of their buyout tycoon friend, David Rubenstein, over Thanksgiving.
Patriot Pics / BACKGRID
Joe and Jill Biden
President Biden and wife Jill are pictured arriving in Nantucket for last year’s Thanksgiving holiday.
AFP via Getty Images

Asked about his specific timeline for making a decision, Biden continued: “Well, I — my guess is — I hope Jill and I get a little time to actually sneak away for a week … between Christmas and Thanksgiving. And my guess is it would be early next year we make that judgment.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many other members of the Biden clan would be joining the 80-year-old president and 71-year-old first lady in Nantucket for the holiday.

Thanksgiving on the island has been a Biden family tradition, with regular holiday gatherings held there since the 1970s.

The Bidens also holed up at Rubenstein’s compound over Thanksgiving last year, as well as in 2014, when Biden was vice president.

David Rubenstein
It is the second-year running the Bidens have holed up at David Rubenstein’s waterfront compound.
Getty Images for Concordia Summi

Rubenstein, who is worth $3.2 billion, according to a Forbes estimate, co-founded the private equity behemoth The Carlyle Group.

Meanwhile, security operations have been building on the island over the past week in preparation for the president’s arrival.

Personnel, vehicles and key equipment — including an air defense system — has been dropped off on the island in recent days.

The Federal Aviation Administration has also issued temporary flight restrictions over the island through Sunday due to “VIP movement.”

source: nypost.com