Trump and Melania leave the White House ahead of Biden inauguration

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Donald Trump vowed ‘we will be back – in some form’ as he left Washington D.C. for the last time Wednesday, flying off on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago to snub Joe Biden – then claiming credit in advance for the new administration’s success.

‘Have a good life,’ he told a crowd of a few hundred supporters at Joint Base Andrews, after listing his ‘achievements’ in a speech which began after a 21-gun salute.

In the front row, Ivanka Trump cried, while behind the maskless crowd chanted ‘thank you Trump,’ before the first family climbed the stairs to Air Force One for the final time. 

The military ceremony had the atmosphere of a Trump rally: Gloria was played as Air Force One taxied, and then the YMCA as Trump hugged and kissed his children.

‘We love you. We will be back in some form,’ he told the crowd of cheering supporters before signing off: ‘Have a good life, we will see you soon.’  

The farewell resembled one of Trump’s infamous campaign rallies, ending with ‘YMCA’ – the song Trump would depart to – as supporters cheered ‘USA, USA, USA.’

The president paused at times in his remarks. While he did not show tears, he appeared to feel the weight of the occasion while taking time to enjoy the final moments of his time in office. He notably did not mention the name of incoming President Joe Biden.

‘Hail to Chief’ played as Trump and Melania – who was wearing a Chanel jacket, sunglasses and carrying a $60,000 black crocodile Hermes Birkin bag – walked from Marine One to the platform where the president addressed the crowd. 

‘We love you,’ the supporters yelled as Trump took the stage after arriving while his children watched on proudly. 

‘We accomplished a lot,’ Trump said. ‘We worked hard. We left it all – as the athletes would say – we left it in the field.’

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He told his supporters, who he hopes to harness as a power force in future elections, that he will be there for them.

‘I will always fight for you. I will be watching, I will be listening and I will tell you the future of the country has never been better. I wish the new administration great luck and great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular and in a position like it has never been,’ he said.

Melania Trump, wearing black, briefly addressed the crowd. She wore a Chanel, military-style jacket and had her hair pinned up for her final appearance as first lady.

‘Being first lady was my greatest honor. Thank you for your support. You will be my thoughts and prayers, god bless you all, god bless the family and god bless this beautiful nation,’ she said.

In free-styling remarks, Trump did not use a teleprompter, he listed some of his accomplishments.

‘Our people are happy, military is thrilled. We got tax cuts, the largest tax cut and reform in the history of the country by far. Hope they don’t raise your taxes. If they do I told you so,’ he said.

He mentioned the number of votes he received in the election but, notably, did not say he was the winner – an argument he made repeatedly after Joe Biden’s win was certified.

‘A lot of obstacles, we went to the obstacles and you get 75 million votes in the history of sitting presidents. It is an all-time record by a lot by many millions, really just an honor,’ he said.

And he paid a short tribute to those who died from the coronavirus, which dominated his last year in office. More than 400,000 Americans died from the disease.

‘We have to do is pay our respects and our love to the incredible people and families who suffered so gravely from the China virus. It is a horrible thing, we all know where it came from but it is a horrible horrible thing so be very careful, be very very careful. We want to pay great love, great love to all the people that have suffered including families who have suffered so greatly,’ he said.

After the ceremony, Trump hugged his children and grand children, who stood the side of stage. He waved to the crowd, walking through an honor guard hand in hand with Melania, taking it all in.

The first couple climbed the stairs of Air Force One and waved goodbye. The Trump children followed them up the stairs.

It’s unclear what’s next for the outgoing president, who timed his departure so he could land in Florida while the plane carried the call sign ‘Air Force One’ – which can only be sued when the current president is on board.

Trump faces a second impeachment trial in the Senate, which could result in him never being able to run for office again if he’s found guilty. But he’s likely to use his supporters to be a force in the party, particularly primary elections where he has vowed vengeance against those Republicans he felt did not support him.

In a glaring split-screen moment defining the end of the Trump years, Joe Biden was about to leave Blair House, the White House’s official guest house, to go to mass with his wife Jill and Congressional leaders.

Trump was flying to Joint Base Andrews to speak in front of Air Force One to a small crowd of supporters. His adult children waited for him there. 

Trump’s early departure for Florida has caused a logistical and security nightmare since he is taking with him the nuclear codes. They will then be flown back to DC to be handed over to Biden this afternoon. 

On Tuesday night, Trump made one of his final acts in office granting pardons to dozens of rappers, millionaires and strategists, including his old friend Steve Bannon.   

This year, due to the ongoing pandemic and fears of a security threat, the mall – where thousands normally line up to greet the new President and First Lady – will be closed to the public. 

A smaller-than-usual crowd of guests including former Presidents and lawmakers will attend the inauguration ceremony in a socially-distanced manner instead.  

The inaugural theme for this year’s ceremony, ‘America United’, aims to restore the ‘soul of America’, bring the nation together and create a ‘path to a brighter future’, according to the incoming administration. 

The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) has announced a series of events to be broadcast throughout Inauguration Day that Americans can watch live from home as people have been ordered to refrain from attending in person.

In lieu of the usual crowds, approximately 191,500 flags will cover the National Mall in honor of those unable to travel to Washington due to the pandemic.

Three hours before Biden will be sworn in as the 46th U.S. President, he will be attending mass at St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral with members of the House and Senate at 8:45am. 

Guests will then begin arriving on the steps of the Capitol at around 11am. 

Because of the ongoing pandemic, organizers have slashed attendance from 200,000 down to just 1,000 people.

Most members of Congress are expected to be in attendance (and have all been permitted plus-ones), as are three of the four living former presidents: Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. 

Former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton, will also be present.

President Trump will not be attending.

 He confirmed his absence in a tweet earlier this month shortly before he was permanently suspended from the social media platform.

Instead, Trump will leave DC on Air Force One at around 8am, with his destination set for his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. 

He is set to become the first president in more than a century to not attend his successor’s inauguration. Only three presidents have previously abstained, with the last, Andrew Johnson, coming in 1869.

Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, has confirmed he will be attending, along with his wife, Karen.   

President Trump will not be attending. He confirmed his absence in a tweet earlier this month shortly before he was permanently suspended from the social media platform.

Instead, Trump will leave DC on Air Force One at around 8am, with his destination set for his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

He is set to become the first president in more than a century to not attend his successor’s inauguration. Only three presidents have previously abstained, with the last, Andrew Johnson, coming in 1869.

Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, has confirmed he will be attending, along with his wife, Karen.

The inauguration ceremony will commence with remarks from Father Leo J. O’Donovan, a longtime friend of the Biden family and former president of Georgetown University.

Andrea Hall, the first African American female firefighter to become captain of the Fire Rescue Department in South Fulton, Georgia, will then recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

A number of live performances are also scheduled to take place throughout the ceremony.

The first on the bill is Lady Gaga, who will sing the national anthem. The singer previously teamed with Biden on domestic violence issues during his two terms as Vice President and also campaigned for him in the 2020 election.

Amanda Gorman, who became the U.S.’s first Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, will then recite a poem she has written for the occasion, titled: ‘The Hill We Climb.’

Much like the incoming president, Gorman also once had a speech impediment that she has worked hard to overcome. 

She has also recently announced plans to run for president in 2036 – the first year in which she will be eligible.

Jennifer Lopez will then follow Gorman’s reading with a song, as will singer-songwriter Garth Brooks.

The performances with then conclude with a benediction from longtime Biden family friend, Rev. Silvester Beaman, of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware.

Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to Biden shortly after the clock strikes noon.

Biden will take the oath with his hand on top of his 127-year-old, five-inch-thick family Bible, which will be held by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

Kamala Harris, the first woman, the first black and the first South Asian American vice president, will then take the oath immediately after.

Harris is due to be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina to serve on the bench of the Supreme Court.

Like Harris, Sotomayor is a former prosecutor. She previously administered the oath to Biden when he was sworn in for his second term as Vice President in 2013.

Harris will be sworn in on two Bibles — one that belonged to a close family friend named Regina Shelton and another that belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the country’s first African American Supreme Court Justice. 

Trump on Tuesday night granted sweeping pardons to his friends, rapper and millionaires, who have been charged for an array of crimes. 

Trump PARDONS Steve Bannon: President grants clemency to 143 people including White House strategist who ‘defrauded MAGA fans out of $25M’, Lil Wayne, Kodak Black and convicted politicians

Donald Trump has granted clemency to Steve Bannon as part of a wave of 143 pardons and commutations announced early Wednesday morning during the president’s final hours in office.

Bannon, 67, helped Trump win the election in 2016 and was a senior White House adviser. In August last year he pleaded not guilty to charges that he defrauded MAGA donors to ‘We Build the Wall,’ an online campaign that raised $25 million.

Pardoning Bannon in a list that dropped shortly after midnight the White House said: ‘President Trump granted a full pardon to Stephen Bannon. Prosecutors pursued Mr. Bannon with charges related to fraud stemming from his involvement in a political project.

‘Mr. Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen.’

Trump has also pardoned rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offenses, as well as former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.

He will also pardon Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for Trump who pleaded guilty last year to violating foreign lobbying laws, Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce and Anthony Levandowski, a former Google engineer was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing the internet giant’s self-driving car files ahead of joining Uber.

But notable names not on the list were Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Tiger King’s Joe Exotic, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani or any members of the Trump family, all of whom were rumored to be under consideration.

It also ended years of speculation that Trump would try to immunize himself, an unprecedented and legally questionable step which he had previously claimed he had the power to take.

The list was issued just hours before Trump leaves the White House for the last time and the pardon power, nuclear codes and other trappings of the presidency are transferred to Joe Biden, who will take the oath of office at noon Eastern time.

Leaving under the cloud of a second impeachment and the riot he provoked at the Capitol two weeks ago, Trump wished luck to the new administration in a ‘farewell address’ last night but did not mention Biden by name and still has not accepted in public that he legitimately lost the election.

Bannon had fallen out with Trump after he was quoted calling the president’s son Don Jr. ‘treasonous’ and his daughter Ivanka ‘dumb as a brick’. Trump said then: ‘Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency.’

But the two men have since rekindled their relationship as Trump sought support for his unproven claims of voter fraud, an official familiar with the situation said. White House officials are said to have advised Trump against pardoning Bannon.

Bannon can still be charged in state court in New York, where a pardon would not help him, said Daniel R. Alonso, a former prosecutor now at the Buckley law firm. Fraud prosecutions are frequently brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Alonso said.

‘Steve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trump’s own supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for,’ Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on Twitter. ‘And if that all sounds crazy, that’s because it is. Thank God we have only 12 more hours of this den of thieves.’

Bannon was in August last year pulled from a luxury yacht and arrested on allegations that he and three associates ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall.

The organizers of the ‘We Build The Wall’ group portrayed themselves as eager to help the president build a ‘big beautiful’ barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, as he promised during the 2016 campaign.

They raised more than $25million from thousands of donors and pledged that 100% of the money would be used for the project.

But according to the criminal charges, much of the money never made it to the wall. Instead, it was used to line the pockets of group members, including Bannon, who served in Trump’s White House and worked for his campaign.

He allegedly took over $1 million, using some to secretly pay co-defendant Brian Kolfage, an Air Force veteran who lost both legs in a mortar attack in Iraq and the founder of the project, and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.