Donald Trump will be clinging to the last vestiges of his presidency thousands of feet in the air before president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
The outgoing president is taking Air Force One home to Florida while he can still can, arriving there before Biden is sworn in around noon, CBS News reported.
As it stands, Trump is “scheduled to land in West Palm Beach, Floria at 11am on Wednesday morning with just one hour left in his presidency. He no longer has access to Air Force One as of noon that day,” CBS’s Ben Tracy tweeted on Sunday.
Trump would no longer be deemed the commander-in-chief after noon and the plane would lose its Air Force One call sign – which Trump wanted to avoid, NBC News noted earlier.
Usually presidents depart on another government jet to begin civilian life.
The rest of his moving-out day plans have also began to take shape, according to media reports.
The White House sent out invitations for Trump’s departure event at Joint Base Andrews, which begins at 8am, Bloomberg reported. Guests can bring up to five other people, must wear masks and should arrive between 6am and 7:15am, Bloomberg reported after viewing one of the invites.
Trump favoured the red-carpet treatment with a 21-gun salute and military band, reports noted.
His helicopter goodbye from the White House’s South Lawn is expected to be a low-key affair. Some White House aides will be there to send off Marine One and attendance will be “limited,” Bloomberg reported. Heightened security around the inauguration and the White House following the Capitol insurrection curtailed the size.
Trump, the only president to be impeached twice and the only president in modern history to not attend his successor’s inauguration, will likely spend the rest of the day at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Palm Beach police recently warned residents that the Secret Service would have a “final road closure near Mar-a-Lago” on January 20 and would be closed for several days, CBS in Miami reported.
“Beyond this, we do not foresee any future road closures related to the presence of a former president,” police wrote.