Why Melania Trump and her son Barron will not move into the White House (at least for a while)
Just as his campaign broke schemes, the presidency of Donald Trump will begin with an unusual move: the new presidential couple will not live together in the White House, for a while.
The future first lady, Melania Trump, will remain in New York for a few months after Trump is sworn in on January 20, as confirmed by the president-elect a few weeks ago.
That's because the couple have decided that Barron, Melania and Donald Trump's 10-year-old son, will stay at the school he attends in the Big Apple until his school year ends.
This was explained by Trump at the end of November to reporters who asked about the future of the couple in the White House.
The president-elect said they would be living together again "just when (Barron) finishes school."
The minor is in fifth grade at a private school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, and his school year ends in early summer 2017.
So far, Trump, his team, and his family have operated from Trump Tower in Manhattan, where there is a large security deployment by the US Secret Service.
A new precedent
Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump's team, said the new presidential couple are sensitive to "pulling a 10-year-old out of school in the middle of a school year."
Yet all presidents have lived in and served from the White House since taking office, a tradition that dates back to the John Adams administration in 1800.
The country's first president, George Washington, and his wife did not live in the mansion in the US capital because the building did not yet exist.
The Washington Post newspaper noted that there was a unique case: First Lady Anna Harrison, wife of President William Henry Harrison, did not have the opportunity to move because the ninth president died a month after being sworn in.
After an unusual campaign, the government of Donald Trump will continue to differentiate itself from his predecessors, setting another new precedent.
