Trump leaves White House for last time as president

• Posted on January 20, 2021January 20, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Accompanied by the first lady, Donald Trump is leaving the White House for the last time during his presidency.

The last US president to skip his successor’s inauguration was the once-impeached Andrew Johnson, who served a single term immediately after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the conclusion of the nation’s devastating civil war.

Now Donald Trump – who has spent the past four years breaking norms and traditions, and battling his own impeachment charges and presiding over a year of unrest culminating in an assault on the US Capitol by an angry mob of his supporters – will do likewise.

Instead of being seen off by a joint assembly of the nation’s leading politicians at the US Capitol following Joe Biden’s swearing in, Trump and his wife are walking down a red carpet at the White House to an awaiting helicopter, his departure memorialised only by a small crowd of reporters.

1. Donald Trump leaves the White House for the last time. The Marine One helicopter is on the White House lawn
2. Joe Biden is to be sworn in as the 46th US president just before 17:00 GMT in Washington
3. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris will take the oath of office alongside him – the first woman to hold that position
4. Some 25,000 troops will guard the inauguration ceremony after a deadly riot at the Capitol earlier this month
5. Trump will not attend his successor’s inauguration – only the fourth president not to do so
6. In the final hours of his presidency Trump pardoned 73 people, including his former adviser Steve Bannon
7. But he did not issue pre-emptive pardons for himself or family members

-BBC