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KINGSHILL, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — President Joe Biden connected Tuesday traveled to a spot precise acquainted to him — the U.S. Virgin Islands — to bask immoderate downtime and warmer upwind and to ringing successful a caller twelvemonth with family.
The president and his wife, archetypal woman Jill Biden, flew from Washington connected Tuesday to St. Croix, 1 of 3 islands that marque up the U.S. territory successful the Caribbean. St. John and St. Thomas are the different 2 islands. The Bidens were joined by their girl Ashley and her husband, Howard Krein, arsenic good arsenic grandchildren Natalie and Hunter, whose begetter was the president’s precocious son, Beau.
St. Croix is simply a tropical getaway that Biden has been getting distant to astatine slightest since helium was vice president, from 2009 to 2017.
“We’ve missed him the past mates of years,” Beth Moss Mahar, a retired lawyer and land nonmigratory for astir 3 decades, said successful a telephone interview.
Biden spent the holidays astatine his location successful Delaware successful 2020 and 2021, mostly due to the fact that of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s sojourn to St. Croix volition beryllium his archetypal arsenic president to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“We’re tremendously honored,” Del. Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the Virgin Islands successful Congress, said successful a telephone interrogation Tuesday.
“In the past, erstwhile helium and his household person come, of people sightings of President Biden were astir a happening of legend,” she said.
Any sightings volition present beryllium altered by the information that Biden is regarded arsenic 1 of the world’s astir almighty men. As such, helium present travels with a importantly bigger footprint than erstwhile helium was vice president, including a ample contingent of U.S. Secret Service agents, White House unit and journalists covering the trip.
Biden and his woman bask spending the week betwixt Christmas and New Year’s Day successful a warmer climate, and Jill Biden likes a beach, aides said.
“We ever look guardant to his coming and we truly recognize that this is simply a spot of relaxation for him and Jill and immoderate different household helium whitethorn bring with him and truthful we permission him unsocial and fto him conscionable relax,” said Donna Christensen, who was Plaskett’s predecessor successful Congress.
“He usually says, ‘In my adjacent life, I’m surviving successful St. Croix,’” she said successful a telephone interview.
Both Plaskett and Christensen expressed anticipation that attraction paid to wherever Biden spends his year-end abrogation volition amplify challenges facing the U.S. Virgin Islands and different U.S. territories, specified arsenic threats from clime change, including much almighty hurricanes and rising oversea levels, arsenic good arsenic problems these governments person coping with aging infrastructure.
Biden was scheduled to instrumentality to Washington connected Jan. 2. That’s the time earlier the president’s Democratic Party cedes power of the House of Representatives to the Republican Party pursuing the November midterm elections, perchance complicating Biden’s legislative docket for the remaining 2 years of his term.
Democrats volition proceed to power the Senate successful the Congress that volition beryllium seated connected Jan. 3.
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