Fact check: Trump falsely claims Biden has homes in four vacation destinations and ‘more homes than I do’

Washington CNN —

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Tuesday that President Joe Biden has more homes than Trump does and that Biden has homes in four expensive holiday destinations.

At a campaign rally in Florida, Trump argued that Biden has spent excessive time on vacation during his presidency. “And mansions are in – think of this – here’s a guy that’s been a politician all his life. He’s got homes in the Virgin Islands, Nantucket, Lake Tahoe, Kiawah Island. I mean, where the hell did they get all this money, Byron?” Trump said, speaking to Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida. “He’s got more homes than I do. What the hell is going on with him?”

Facts First: Trump’s claims are false. First, Biden does not have homes in any of the four places Trump claimed he does; rather, Biden has stayed at others’ homes in those places. Second, Trump owns more homes than Biden does. Biden owns two houses, both in Delaware, and there is no mystery about how he afforded them.

Biden’s homes

Biden’s primary home, in a suburb of Wilmington, Delaware, is a 6,850-square-foot house Biden and his wife Jill Biden built on a lot they bought for $350,000 in 1996, 23 years into his tenure as a US senator representing Delaware.

Biden’s vacation home is a beach house near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, that he and Jill Biden bought for about $2.7 million in 2017. They made the purchase after they signed a lucrative three-book deal earlier that year as private citizens following his vice presidency.

The Bidens disclosed the book income in tax filings they released to the public in 2019. The filings showed they had earned a total of about $15.6 million in 2017 and 2018. About $13.3 million of that was from the book deal and