Biden spending Thanksgiving at lavish Nantucket home
President Biden and his family have returned to their favorite Thanksgiving holiday haunt at the Nantucket home of billionaire David Rubenstein.
Air Force One touched down at Nantucket Memorial Airport on Tuesday night, and the first family and their Secret Service detail immediately left for the 13,000-square-foot home at Rubenstein's 14-acre compound on Rabbit Run Road, the Nantucket Current reported.
The Biden family will also celebrate the president's 81st birthday, which was Monday, with a traditional coconut cake, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
Biden has a planned call with U.S. military service members on Thanksgiving Day, but there are no other public events on his schedule.
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On Friday, Biden is expected to visit downtown Nantucket for the annual tree lighting ceremony on Main Street – which will begin at 4 p.m. ET – as he has done for the past two years, the Nantucket Current reported.
The local newspaper said Biden's security entourage has been preparing the island for his visit over the past five days, with C-17 Globemasters and other aircraft delivering vehicles, equipment and supplies to Nantucket Memorial Airport. Many Massachusetts State Police Troopers arrived at the island by ferry on Monday, the report said, and hotels are filled with Secret Service agents, government staff and off-island media.
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Rubenstein, a friend of the Bidens whose net worth is estimated at over $3.5 billion, has offered his property to the family for their Thanksgiving celebrations since at least 2021, Forbes reported. The lavish coastal property on Abram's Point includes several guest houses, a tennis court, a hot tub, a pool and has an estimated total value of more than $34 million, according to the Nantucket Assessor's office.
The billionaire bought the property in 1998 for $8 million with his ex-wife, Alice, and has since expanded the compound with five additional structures for house guests.
Rubenstein is co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms with over $382 billion in assets globally across 29 offices worldwide. He is not a major political donor, but before his career in the private sector, he worked as an adviser to former President Carter, Forbes reported. He is currently chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Biden's Thanksgiving vacation in Nantucket comes after the White House helped broker a deal between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas for the release of hostages.
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Qatari negotiators helped broker the deal, which included Israel's military agreeing to temporarily stop its airstrikes and ground invasion of Gaza for humanitarian purposes. Additionally, Hamas has agreed to release dozens of hostages in tandem and Israel has agreed to release Palestinian prisoners on a 3-to-1 ratio. Hamas leaders said they will release one hostage for every three Palestinians that Israel releases from its prisons.
Biden welcomed the release of hostages after Hamas' "brutal assault" on Israel on Oct. 7, saying that he is "extraordinarily gratified that some of these brave souls, who have endured weeks of captivity and an unspeakable ordeal, will be reunited with their families once this deal is fully implemented."
Fox Business' Peter Aitken and Landon Mion contributed to this report.