Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has handed over power of attorney to her daughter, even as she remains in the U.S. Senate.
Feinstein has prompted concern if not outright alarm in recent years amid numerous mental lapses in the public eye. Earlier this year, she missed more than two months due to shingles. When she returned, a reporter asked Feinstein about her absence, but the senator’s response suggested she was unaware she had been away from Washington, D.C.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Feinstein, 90, gave power of attorney to her daughter Katherine Feinstein, 66. The Times said Katherine is currently engaged in a nasty legal dispute with the three daughters of her mother’s late husband Richard Blum, who died in 2022:
In one legal dispute, the family is fighting over what’s described as Senator Feinstein’s desire to sell a beach house in an exclusive neighborhood in Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco. In another disagreement, the two factions are at odds over access to the proceeds of Mr. Blum’s life insurance, which Senator Feinstein says she needs to pay for her growing medical expenses.
[…]
Katherine Feinstein, 66, Senator Feinstein’s only child, who has power of attorney over her mother’s legal affairs, filed two lawsuits against Senator Feinstein’s co-trustees. The first lawsuit, over the beach house, says the property is in disrepair, that Senator Feinstein no longer wishes to use it, and that she wants to sell it this summer or fall.
Feinstein is not running for reelection in 2024, but she has rebuffed calls to resign from the Senate, which Democrats control 51 to 49. During her absence earlier this year, several of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees stalled in the Judiciary Committee, as Feinstein was not present to cast tie-breaking votes.
In an Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Feinstein began speaking about a defense spending bill at a time when she was simply supposed to cast a vote for or against the legislation. “Just say aye,” a fellow senator instructed her.
In May, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said Feinstein’s struggles are “painful to watch” and called on her to resign.
FTA:
“the two factions are at odds over access to the proceeds of Mr. Blum’s life insurance, which Senator Feinstein says she needs to pay for her growing medical expenses.”
Can we just take a moment to say how BROKEN the system is that a multi millionaire 30 year Senator can’t pay for their heavily subsidized healthcare without access to a deceased spouses life insurance?
Senators have the best health care in the country, she has a net worth of $87 million and she can’t pay for her health care?
https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/dianne-feinstein/net-worth?cid=N00007364&year=2018
I suspect she’s lying.
You really think she’s struggling to pay for her medication?
I don’t think she’s in full control of her finances which is making it difficult for SOMEBODY. Maybe her, maybe not her.
It may just be a ruse to support the lawsuit to swing in her favor, but she may also be somewhat cash poor if her wealth is tied up in properties and stocks or other equities. Just because she’s worth several million doesn’t mean that she has that cash sitting in the bank account, though I agree it raises a lot of questions about how she pays monthly obligations then.
I just can’t imagine signing over power of attorney and then not seeing that as the clear sign to retire.