WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump arrived in Florida just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, with an hour left in his presidency, as he decided to take the oath and rather retire to his home on the coast.
Air Force One buzzed Mar-a-Lago shortly before landing. Trump left Washington that morning and delivered a delivery speech to supporters at Joint Base Andrews and then one last time aboard Air Force One.
“It is my greatest honor and privilege to have been your president,” he said cheerfully. “I wish the new government good luck and great success, and I think they will achieve great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular.”
The tone was a shift from previous weeks, in which Trump continued to insist without proof that he did not lose the election, an insistence that culminated in a crowd of his supporters attacking the Capitol in a attempt to elect the election of President Joe Biden officially.
Probably his last act, the White House has announced that Trump is approving the lifting of some aluminum tariffs on the United Arab Emirates. He also apologized to Albert J. Pirro, the former husband of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and one of Trump’s former real estate attorneys who was convicted of tax fraud more than 20 years ago.
Contrary to decades of tradition, Trump will not participate in the peaceful transition of power and he skips the inauguration. He opted for a rally-like lineup at the military airfield, with big speakers blowing up his campaign playlist, U.S. flags and a few hundred rallied supporters.
He did not name Biden in his comments, but rather urged supporters to acknowledge him for future economic and coronavirus victories.
“You’re going to see amazing things happen. And remember us when you see these things happen,” Trump said.
Trump’s short speech deviated from the prepared words that assistants spread before the dismissal. His remarks were out of handcuffs and somewhat gloomy in tone. Trump presented several articles of his presidential legacy, including the Space Force and the judicial confirmation, saying that his team “left everything, as the athletes would say, we left it all on the field.”
He thanked his family, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence, and signaled for his own political future.
“We’ll come back in some form,” he said.
The outgoing president usually leaves shortly after the incoming president is sworn in, by a special aircraft of the air mission. But Trump, who fought bitterly to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, decided to orchestrate an alternative-filled exit while still the commander-in-chief and on Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago- house in Palm Beach. , Florida.
“Have a good life. We’ll see you soon,” Trump said. His plane leaves for the sounds of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’.
There were a number of notable absences during the delivery: Pence did not attend, along with several former senior assistants who were invited. A White House official and source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Tuesday that it was not logically possible for Pence to attend the broadcast as well as the inauguration.
The president’s last days were extraordinarily quiet. Prohibited from posting on social media accounts, Trump and his regular criminals – who often stepped up government affairs – were absent. His last public event before Wednesday’s departure from the White House was a week ago when he went to the border between America and Mexico to build his border wall.
Pence accepted many of the duties traditionally reserved for the retiring commander-in-chief, such as resigning from the troops in Fort Drum over the weekend. He will continue the ceremonial role during Wednesday’s inauguration.
However, Trump left Biden a letter to the White House, a long-standing tradition of outgoing presidents, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere confirmed to NBC News, although the contents of the note were not disclosed.
Elsewhere in the White House, staff and movers are finalizing, packing and disinfecting the transition from the residence and West Wing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before the Biden government’s arrival shortly after noon.
