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Inauguration Day

Air Force One Lifts Off With Trump Aboard After White House Departure, Ceremony

Dispatching with a long-running tradition, President Donald Trump will skip the inauguration of his successor

NBC Universal, Inc.

Air Force One has lifted off with President Donald Trump aboard as he leaves the Washington area for the last time as commander in chief.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump are traveling to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Florida. They left hours before Trump's successor, President-elect Joe Biden, will be sworn in. Trump will be the first outgoing president in a century to boycott the inauguration of his successor.

The Trumps left the White House shortly before 8:20 a.m. Wednesday, the president telling a small crowd gathered on the lawn, "It has been a great honor, the honor of a lifetime."

The couple then boarded Marine One, seeing a stunning view of the National Mall and monuments during their short trip to Joint Base Andrews, where they landed just minutes later.

During a departure ceremony at the base, classic rock songs played before and after both Trumps spoke to the crowd. They then boarded Air Force One, which taxied and lifted off as Frank Sinatra's "My Way" played. It was a notable choice since the couple also danced to a rendition of the song four years ago during an inaugural ball.

Inauguration Day in Photos

Trump Left Departure Note for Biden

While Trump has refused to participate in many of the traditions that have been capstones of the peaceful transition of power, he did take part in one: He left a note for his successor in the Oval Office, a custom started by President Ronald Reagan in 1989.

Deputy Press Sec. Judd Deere confirmed to NBC News that Trump left a note for Biden.

It was not immediately known what was written in the note. Generally, the missives' contents start off as confidential, but are often eventually made public by archivists, references in presidential memoirs or via social media after journalists and others filed requests to obtain them.

Trump received such a note from former President Barack Obama when he moved in.

“We are just temporary occupants of this office," Obama wrote to Trump in January 2017. "That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions — like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties — that our forebears fought and bled for.”

Moving Day at the White House

With a new administration coming in, Inauguration Day is also moving day at the White House.

“They basically have the moving trucks waiting outside the White House gates,” said Matt Costello, a historian at the White House Historical Association, told the Associated Press. “And as soon as the president and president-elect leave, they wave in the moving trucks, and they'll pack up the outgoing president's things, and then they'll unpack all of the new first family's things.”

Things will unfold a bit differently this year.

Trump will leave town before Biden takes the oath of office, meaning the pair will not be going to the Capitol together. Housekeepers and other residence staffers who help move the presidents' belongings could get a welcome head start on the packing and unpacking.

Moving trucks were spotted Monday arriving at Mar-a-Lago.

NBC Washington/Associated Press
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