Trump's Inauguration Day Plans Firming Up

2 reports say he will fly to Mar-a-Lago hours before Joe Biden is sworn in
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2021 9:40 AM CST
Trump's Inauguration Day Plans Firming Up
President Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House on Jan. 12.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

President Trump has said he won't attend Joe Biden's inauguration, though he hasn't revealed where he will be instead. Now multiple reports say Trump plans to fly to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before Biden is sworn in. Bloomberg says the president will fly out sometime in the morning, and CNN and Fox News confirm. CNN reports that Trump will depart on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, adding that the Bidens will likely be able to see the departure, or at least hear it, from the nearby Blair House. They'll be staying there the night before the inauguration at the invitation of the State Department. CNN also reports that Trump is hoping to organize a crowd of supporters to see him off as president for the final time.

As for his longer-term plans, Bloomberg reports that Trump is planning not just to visit Mar-a-Lago but to live there full time. That idea already is generating controversy. As the South Florida Sun Sentinel explains, neighbors say Trump can't make it his permanent residence because he converted it from a private residence to a private club in the 1990s. Trump is expected to bring a few White House aides with him to Florida, including personal assistant Nick Luna and wife Cassidy, who is a deputy assistant to the president. Fox, meanwhile, notes that Trump will be the fourth president to skip his successor's inauguration, joining John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Johnson. (More President Trump stories.)

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