Biden, Harris in California, and soon Trump will be too

Former President Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden are spending their first days after leaving the White House in Santa Barbara County, according to media reports.

The Bidens traveled to a private home in Santa Ynez after attending the inauguration of President Trump in the packed rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Monday, NBC News first reported.

The setting is significant — the couple sought respite there after Biden decided not to seek reelection and spoke in support of then-Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

The Bidens and several of their family members spent several days then at a sprawling vineyard owned by major Democratic donor Joe Kiani, the billionaire founder of the medical technology company Masimo in Irvine. His rural property, in the foothills of the San Rafael Mountains, is surrounded by horse paddocks and gnarled live oaks.

Harris also traveled to California, her home state, after Trump’s inauguration. The former U.S. senator, state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney and her husband, Doug Emhoff, left Washington, landed in Burbank and immediately visited volunteers and firefighters helping the victims of the Eaton fire in Altadena.

President Trump, in his first trip outside Washington since being inaugurated, has said he plans to survey the wildfire damage in the Los Angeles area later this week. He has also said some federal aid could be conditioned to state water policy changes.