Joe Biden and the First Family are enjoying a sumptuous summer vacation on a remote island thanks to a big Democratic donor who has the ear of Presidents and VIPs, can exclusively reveal.
The President and his disgraced son Hunter live free on a sprawling beachfront estate on Kiawah Island, an exclusive beachfront resort and gated community on the South Carolina coast.
The nine-bed retreat is owned by Maria Allwin, 66, the wealthy widow of New York hedge fund mogul James Allwin and a longtime donor to the Democratic Party.
Allwin, an administrator at Manhattan’s exclusive Trevor Day School, has endorsed a number of prominent Democrats over the years, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris.
She has also participated in several DNC fundraisers and made three trips to the White House, met twice with Obama in 2014, and attended a reception hosted by Biden at the vice presidential residence in 2013.
In fact, such a meeting with Obama on April 4, 2014 was deemed so important that it was arranged just hours in advance, according to White House visitor logs.
The First Family flew to Kiawah Island on Wednesday and were whisked under tight security to Allwin’s 10,500-square-foot property to begin their week-long vacation.
Joe and Jill Biden are currently staying with their family in this $20 million nine-bedroom mansion in South Carolina
The secluded oceanfront property is owned by Democratic donor Maria Allwin: the Bidens have stayed there several times since 2009
Secret Service agents on golf carts patrolled the perimeter of the property and guarded the beach immediately behind the sun-drenched private property, which is surrounded by dunes and lush vegetation.
Two Defender-class Coast Guard boats, equipped with machine guns, were stationed offshore.
The Bidens have stayed there several times since 2009 and have enjoyed running the house — which features a separate guest house the size of a single family home and a huge saltwater pool — while Allman lives in their primary home in Connecticut.
They pay nothing for their stay, the New York Post reported Thursday, citing a source close to the First Family.
Allwin’s husband James Allwin died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 54. He founded the investment management firm Aetos in 1999 and has been a longtime board member of Communities in Schools, an outreach program.
They bought their pad on Kiawah Island in 1991 for $1.2 million and it briefly listed on the market in July for $20 million – making it the most expensive property for sale in the state of South Carolina at the time made.
“This architecturally significant 10,500 square foot home sits on a rare 2.07 acre oceanfront double lot with 200 feet of ocean frontage, located in the Southeast’s most exclusive and desirable resorts, Kiawah Island,” according to a now-deleted property listing .
Joe Biden is seen Wednesday at Joint Air Base Andrews boarding Air Force One to depart on his vacation
Maria Allwin, who owns the beach house, has been a prominent Democrat donor for many years
‘A private 400 foot driveway leads you to this sprawling oceanfront property which offers an oceanfront salt pool with travertine surrounds, a separate pool house and a manicured back lawn with a bridged walkway to the beach.
“The exterior of the home is constructed with cedar clapboards and a standing seam copper hipped roof interrupted by copper guttering. The circular driveway approaches an impressive front facade where the limestone staircase leads to the carpenter’s double doors. From the foyer, the inner grandeur of the house comes into its own in an impressive way.’
Allwin’s primary residence is a $5.2 million, six-bed, six-bath mansion in upscale Greenwich, Connecticut, according to her political donation documents. She also has an apartment on West 53rd Street in New York that cost $6,350,000 as of September 2015.
The sprawling home features nine bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Some of the bedrooms open onto the beach and dunes
The airy, double height living room has a working fireplace and plenty of space for an extended family
The South Carolina home has its own private dock down to the beach, over the dunes
The well-connected widow has donated a total of $353,662 to mostly Democratic political campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission data viewed by .
This includes $40,600 for Joe Biden’s 2019-2020 presidential campaign and a $33,400 contribution to the Hillary Victory Fund in 2016.
More recently, Allwin threw her financial clout behind Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to fend off a major challenge from Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman.
Donations include $5,800 divided into three gifts to the Liz Cheney for Wyoming fund in March and May of this year.
Summer vacation is a presidential tradition. George W. Bush often spent August clearing brush in the 100-degree heat that ravaged his central Texas ranch.
Obama worked on his golf game on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Trump spent time at his home on his private golf club in central New Jersey.
The White House has stressed in the past that the president is never truly free from the responsibilities of the job – and that regardless of his location, he will continue to consult advisers and conduct his daily national security briefing.
Sometimes vacationing presidents have had to make decisions that define legacy, including Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Bill Clinton ordered airstrikes against al-Qaeda terrorists from Martha’s Vineyard in response to the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Bush’s father, President George HW Bush, planned the US response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 from his family’s oceanfront estate in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The White House hasn’t said how long the Bidens will remain on the private island, but FAA flight restrictions are in place through Tuesday. These restrictions are standard procedure when a President visits an area.
There are many private residences on the island, including homes of former Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, Olympic gold medalist figure skater Tara Lipinski, and NBA basketball player Ray Allen.
With Biden gone, the House of Representatives will vote on the anti-inflation bill passed by the Senate this weekend.
The President typically travels to Delaware for his breaks, either to his home in Wilmington or to his beach house in Rehoboth. He spent part of August last year in each of these houses.
But the Bidens are no strangers to Kiawah. They previously visited the island in 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2015 when Biden was vice president.
And President Biden last visited South Carolina in December, when he spoke at the South Carolina State University graduation ceremony at the invitation of his close friend, Rep. Jim Clyburn.
Kiawah, an island of 15 miles square feet, has an oceanfront golf resort and is 25 miles from Charleston. It is known as one of the premier golf destinations on the east coast.
In May 2021, the PGA hosted its championship at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island. Biden is a golfer but usually only hits the links at his country club in Wilmington.
In his first 18 months in office, Biden played 15 rounds of golf, according to former CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who tracks presidential data.