President Joe Biden has spent more than a quarter of his year and a half in office at home in Delaware, CNN reported Monday.
Biden, the oldest person ever elected president, has spent 174 days—including almost every weekend—at his two houses in Delaware. By comparison, former president Donald Trump, whom the media widely criticized for being away from the White House, had only spent 135 days at home by this point in his presidency.
While a White House spokesman told CNN that Biden is "constantly on the job," the administration has stonewalled journalists on who visits the president in Delaware. The Secret Service has repeatedly denied New York Post Freedom of Information Act requests for "any records that identify visitors to President Biden's Delaware residences," claiming that it could find "no responsive records." Biden promised soon after taking office that his administration would uphold the "highest standards of transparency."
The Post's editorial board blasted the Secret Service's denial, saying the claim makes "the president look guilty as hell." While vice president, Biden had meetings with his son Hunter's shady "business dealings with the Chinese," former Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski said. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Hunter Biden over taxes and business practices in China and Ukraine.
The report also comes as members of the president's own party worry about his age. The president will turn 80 on Nov. 20, causing "trepidation in the West Wing," the Washington Free Beacon reported. Biden last month faced scrutiny after he called on a congresswoman to stand up, not realizing the congresswoman had died months earlier.
Historian Tim Naftali told CNN that Biden's decision to head home so often causes another self-imposed headache for the president.
"People will assume the worst if he's not visible," Naftali said. "That is something that comes with being the oldest president in office."