US President, Trump, leaves the White House
Zimbabwe

US President, Trump, leaves the White House

  • President Donald Trump has left the White House for the last time in his term, which ends at 12pm ET(17 GMT), and will become the first president in over 150 years not to attend successor’s inauguration.
  • President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration will begin 10:30am ET (15:30 GMT) and will take place amid unprecedented security in the wake of the storming of the US Capitol building on January 6.
  • The crowd size will be extremely limited as the capital Washington, DC, has been under lockdown due to security fears prompted by the deadly riot at the Capitol – the seat of the US government.
  • Trump was impeached for “incitement to insurrection” for his role in the Capitol mayhem, becoming the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

Trump emerged from White House on Wednesday morning and strode across the South Lawn to board Marine One.

He said: “It’s been a great honor, the honor of a lifetime.”

“I just want to say goodbye. And hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye, we’ll see each other again. Thank you all very much,” Trump said.

Trump now heads to Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, where he’ll have a military sendoff.

A red carpet has been placed on the tarmac for Trump to walk as he boards the plane. Four US Army cannons are set up for a 21-gun salute.

Trump then flies to Florida, where he’ll stay at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump is leaving Washington just hours before Joe Biden takes the oath of office as the 46th president. It’s the first time in more than a century that a sitting president has rejected the tradition of attending his successor’s inauguration.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *