From the Free Beacon: A $1,962 soccer ball for Hamas ally Qatar. A $1,557 bowl for Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping. A $2,310 handblown glass vase for Cambodian dictator Hun Sen. These are just some of the taxpayer-funded gifts the Biden-Harris administration awarded to foreign dictators, human rights abusers, and anti-American world leaders, financial disclosure forms reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.
The administration doled out the gifts from October 2022 to September 2023, as President Joe Biden and his top cabinet members traveled the globe for diplomatic powwows. While it is customary for U.S. officials to present foreign leaders with gifts as a sign of goodwill, the Biden-Harris administration spent liberally on presents for some of the globe’s foremost human rights abusers.
China’s Xi, for instance, received a $1,557.84 “custom glass bowl” during Biden’s travel in November 2022, according to non-public financial disclosure forms submitted to Congress this month and reviewed by the Free Beacon. The lavish bowl was packaged in a “Navy gift box” and included “hand-painted White House wood.”
When Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to China in June 2023, he presented then-foreign affairs minister Qin Gang with a pewter tea set worth $1,345. The State Department sought special permission to purchase the gift because it exceeded the internal limit of $1,200 set under federal guidelines.
Other gifts doled out by the Biden administration included:
- A $1,962 “custom leather presidential soccer ball” which included included the “seal and signature of the president of the United States”, presented during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani
- Jordan’s anti-Israel regime, led by King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, received upwards of $10,000 in gifts from Joe and Jill Biden, including:
- $1,912 “ship’s bell double clock” that featured “the president’s signature”
- A $1,129 “custom handblown green glass bowl”
- A “custom handmade 14 karat yellow gold brooch” worth $854 for Queen Rania Al Abdullah
- A $2,236 “custom leather stationery set” that included a “custom hand-painted fountain pen made from White House wood”
- An “18 karat yellow gold diamond necklace” priced at $2,400
- Cambodian dictator Sen, who served as the nation’s prime minister until August 2023, received a $2,310 glass vase from Biden in November 2022
- Also in 2022, Biden gave South Sudan’s minister of foreign affairs, Mayiik Ayii Deng, a $1,936 gift package that included “framed vintage American art” and other valuables.
Prominent anti-Israel leaders also received luxury gifts:
- Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, received “framed vintage American art” and a “pair of aviator sunglasses” valued at nearly $2,000.
- Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan—a prominent anti-Israel figure who is said to have “set back Turkey’s human rights record by decades”—received a $1,078 “men’s presidential watch” in July 2023
A $2,000 Soccer Ball for Hamas-Friendly Qatar and a $1,500 Bowl for Xi: Biden Gave Lavish Gifts to Foreign Human Rights Abusers, Congressional Notice Showshttps://t.co/btA7vodgKD
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) December 18, 2024
Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter.)
Dennis Michael Lynch personal: www.X.com/TrustDML
The DML News App: www.X.com/DMLNewsApp
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
