By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump now plans to leave Washington on the morning of Inauguration Day next Wednesday after considering a departure on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Trump, who had already announced plans not to attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, is planning a farewell event at Joint Base Andrews, the base outside Washington where Air Force One is headquartered, the source said.
He will then fly on to Palm Beach, Florida, to begin his post-presidency at his Mar-a-Lago club, the source told Reuters.
A handful of White House aides plan to work for him there.
Some White House advisers have been urging the Republican president to host Biden for a White House meeting ahead of Inauguration Day, but there has been no sign Trump is willing to do that, an administration official said.
Trump, the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, is planning to issue more pardons before leaving. Sources say he has been considering the unprecedented option of pardoning himself.
(Reporting By Steve Holland, Editing by Franklin Paul and Howard Goller)
