Trump and Melania to return to White House, skip Mar-a-Lago New Years party
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, United States, Wednesday, December 23, 2020.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will return to the White House on Thursday, interrupting their long vacation in Palm Beach and skipping a New Year's rash at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The scheduling notice came days before Congress was ready to finalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, an outcome that was virtually inevitable, but which several Republicans nonetheless plan to delay with objections.
The president and the first lady are expected to leave Florida for Washington at 11 a.m. ET, the White House announced Wednesday evening.
The departure was unexpected: Media reported that guests attending the annual Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve gala had been informed that Trump would be attending the event. CNN, quoting a station member, reported Tuesday that at least 500 reservations at the party had been confirmed.
A receptionist from Mar-a-Lago declined to comment on the party. The White House declined to comment.
Since arriving in Palm Beach on December 23, Trump has made comments largely focused on the election, which he refuses to concede to Biden despite repeatedly failing in court to have the college's votes reversed or invalidated. election for the Democrat.
These voters voted on December 14; Biden won 306 votes to 232 for Trump.
Amid frequent trips to his golf club, Trump took to Twitter to pressure Republican senators to "rally and fight for the presidency," while spreading an array of unfounded conspiracy theories and demystified about widespread electoral fraud.
Missouri Republican Josh Hawley became the first senator to answer the call on Wednesday, saying he would oppose congressional vote counting next week.
Several House Republicans have already pledged to run for office at that time. If a member of the chamber and a senator jointly oppose a state's voters list, the two chambers must debate separately and then vote on the objection.
Experts say there is no real chance of overturning the election result.
It is unclear how Trump plans to continue his lobbying campaign in the days leading up to Wednesday's certification of Biden's victory.
On Sunday, he announced he would travel to Georgia next Monday to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, a day before their double second round that will determine which party controls the Senate.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will also travel to Peach State to campaign for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock ahead of Tuesday’s election.
