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By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign leaders and governments presented to former President Joe Biden, his wife, U.S. Cabinet members and other senior officials tens of thousands of dollars in gifts in the last year of the Biden administration, including a $19,000 painting, an $11,000 necklace, a $5,000 bracelet and in one case $15,000 in cash, according to the latest accounting from the State Department.
The annual report, published Thursday in the Federal Register by the department’s Bureau of Protocol, covers calendar year 2024 and does not include any gifts given to President Donald Trump or his administration in the first year of Trump’s second term.
Federal employees are required to report gifts they receive from foreign officials that are worth more than $480. Most gifts are transferred to the National Archives or General Services Administration and not kept by the recipient unless they choose to reimburse the Treasury for them or in rare cases keep them for official use.
Biden’s most expensive gift: A $19,000 painting from Angola’s president
Biden received an acrylic painting titled “Marimba” by the noted Angolan artist Guizef Guilherme, which had an estimated value of $19,000 and was sent to the archives.
Perhaps more unusually, Biden was gifted a sterling si...
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