The turmoil surrounding Donald Trump’s probable whereabouts on his last day as president has increased significantly with the news that an official plane he used in the past would have to fly to Scotland the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Trump himself sticks to his refusal to accept his decisive election defeat. He is caught enchanting election officials to “find” thousands of extra votes and encourages his supporters to come on Wednesday for a “wild” day of protest when Congress has to ratify the result.
The White House has refused to say what he will do when Biden is inaugurated on January 20, raising the question of whether Trump will leave the building voluntarily.
Most Trump viewers expect him to evade any event that involves acknowledging his election loss. They predict he’s going to make a spectacular distraction to detract from Biden’s first day.
In many versions of the scenario, the outgoing president flies to his private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. But Scotland’s Sunday Post reports that Prestwick Airport, near Trump’s golf course resort, was told by Trump to expect a US military Boeing 757 on January 19, which is sometimes used by Trump.
The report states that speculation about a possible inauguration day drama is fueled by the observation of U.S. military surveillance planes orbiting Turnberry in November and possibly doing pre-work.
“This is usually a sign that Trump is going to be somewhere for a long time,” the Post quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The 757 is a smaller, narrower aircraft than the Boeing 747-200Bs normally designated as Air Force One. It is used more frequently by Vice President and First Lady Melania Trump as President.
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from the White House or Prestwick Airport.
To leave the country before formally leaving office would have an American president unprecedented.
Flying to Scotland before January 20 is one way to get U.S. taxpayers to pay for the first stages of a post-presidential holiday. It is also possible that the flight was booked as a contingency by a candidate who was surprised by the defeat and not sure what to do.
Several reports indicate that he will experience serious problems in his very guilty business empire.
New accounts released on Monday showed that Trump’s range of golf properties in Scotland lost £ 3.4 million in 2019, although Trump Turnberry showed a modest profit.
Meanwhile, his neighbors in Mar-a-Lago have made a lawful attempt to prevent him from moving there full-time, saying he is excluded by an agreement he signed in the early 1990s to move the estate from a private residence to ‘ to transform a club.
Wherever Trump goes on January 20, it is unlikely that the exit will be quiet or particularly dignified. But it will be no different than any presidential departure the country has ever seen.