Just over an hour after President Donald Trump took the oath of office, former President Joe Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden departed D.C. in a helicopter. Nighthawk 46 – known as Marine One when the current president is aboard – took them to Joint Base Andrews where the outgoing president addressed a crowd of supporters.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden said to the cheering crowd before telling them, “I love you all.”
BIDEN GREETS TRUMP AT WHITE HOUSE WITH TWO-WORD MESSAGE
Biden and the former first lady board Special Air Mission 46 at Joint Base Andrews following inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 20, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
After wrapping up his short remarks, the former president and his wife jetted off to the Santa Ynez Valley in California for some personal time.
While some went to Santa Barbara Airport in hopes of seeing Biden’s plane land, however, a “no-fly” notice in the airspace around Vandenberg indicated that the former president would land there, local outlet KEYT reported.
“He and Jill visited last summer so this is his second visit in less than a year,” Shelby Sim, President/CEO of Visit the Santa Ynez Valley, told People magazine. Sim also told the outlet that there’s a “rumor” that the former president is looking to buy a home in the area, but insisted that this visit “is purely for R&R.”
Biden and the former first lady walk to Air Force One during a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Jan. 20, 2025, following Trump’s inauguration.
The Bidens also traveled to the Santa Ynez Valley after the former president delivered his speech at the Democratic National Convention just weeks after dropping out of the 2024 election. They reportedly stayed with a “friend,” billionaire donor joe Kiani, the New York Post reported at the time.
Kiani has given Biden’s super PAC, foundation and inaugural committee nearly $3 million, according to House Republicans who have taken issue with the relationship. Meanwhile, in September 2021, Kiani won an appointment from Biden to sit on his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which advises the executive branch on policy matters involving Kiani’s medical tech business, Masimo. Since Biden took office in January 2021, Masimo has received nearly $3 million in federal contracts, according to Republicans.
During their last visit to the area after the then-president dropped out of the race in August, the Bidens reportedly stayed at Kiani Preserve, an 8,000-acre estate owned by the billionaire donor of the same name.
BIDEN’S FREE VACATION AT FRIEND’S CALIFORNIA MANSION DRAWS IRE OF CRITICS
Biden and the former first lady depart board the helicopter to take them from the East Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., after Trump’s swearing-in on Jan. 20, 2025.
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Little is known about where the Bidens will go after leaving the White House, as the family has yet to make plans public. The former president has two homes in Delaware — one in Wilmington and one in Rehoboth Beach — but he has not made it clear if either will serve as his home base post-presidency. However, if the rumor referenced by Sim turns out to be true, the Bidens could settle on the West Coast.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
