When is Trump Leaving the White House? Timetable of President's D.C. Departure
President Donald Trump will leave the White House on January 20, just a few hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office.
Officials are planning a farewell ceremony for the outgoing president at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before he heads to Florida aboard Air Force One. Invitations for the event, scheduled for 8 a.m. on Wednesday, have been sent to supporters of Trump as well as former administration officials, Bloomberg News reported.
Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs wrote on Twitter that guests must arrive between 6 a.m. and 7.15 a.m. for the event and are permitted to bring up to five other people with them. The invites also say all attendees must wear masks, according to Jacobs.
NEW: White House sends invitations for Trump’s departure event at Joint Base Andrews—starts at 8a Wednesday.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 18, 2021
Guests must arrive between 6a and 7:15a; may bring up to five other people; and must wear mask, the invites say, according to one shared with me by an ex Trump official.
The White House has been contacted for comment.
Trump is eschewing the tradition of presidents attending their successor's inauguration ceremony and will instead be at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida when Biden is sworn in as the nation's 46th president at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
He announced his decision not to attend Biden's inauguration on Twitter, days after the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The social media platform, along with other major sites including Facebook, has since banned Trump.
On January 6, a mob of Trump supporters stormed and ransacked the Capitol—where lawmakers had convened to formalize Biden's election victory—following a rally near the White House, where Trump continued to baselessly claim the election had been stolen from him and exhorted loyalists to "fight like hell." Five people died as a result of the assault on the Capitol, including a Capitol police officer.
A week later, Trump became the first president in history to be impeached twice. Ten House Republicans crossed the aisle to join Democrats in voting to impeach on a charge of "incitement of insurrection." A trial in the Senate is not expected to commence before Trump leaves office.
Meanwhile, the nation's capital remains on high alert with unprecedented amounts of security amid fears of an attack on Biden's inauguration.
According to The Associated Press (AP), the FBI is vetting all of the 25,000 National Guard arriving in Washington, D.C. this week to protect the event—which will be significantly scaled back from previous inaugurals—amid fears of an insider attack.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told the AP that he had warned commanders to be on alert for any problems within their ranks and said no evidence of any threats had yet been identified through vetting.
