The gloom surrounding Donald Trump’s likely whereabouts on his last day as president has thickened considerably with news that an official plane he used in the past must fly to Scotland the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Trump himself maintains his refusal to accept his decisive electoral defeat. He was caught persuading election officials to “find” thousands of extra votes and is encouraging his supporters to come together for a “wild” day of protest on Wednesday, when Congress is expected to ratify the result.
The White House declined to say what it will do when Biden opens on January 20, raising the question of whether Trump will voluntarily leave the building.
Most Trump observers expect him to dodge any event that involves acknowledging his electoral defeat. They predict that he will make spectacular fun to undermine Biden’s first day at work.
Many versions of this scenario show the president who is leaving office flying to his private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. But the Scotland’s Sunday Post newspaper reported that Prestwick Airport, next to Trump’s Turnberry golf course, was warned to wait for a U.S. military Boeing 757 that was occasionally used by Trump on January 19.
The report said speculation about a possible opening day drama was fueled by sightings of U.S. military surveillance aircraft circling Turnberry for a week in November, making possible prior work.
“It is usually a sign that Trump will be somewhere for a long time,” an unnamed source told the Post.
The 757 is a smaller and narrower plane than the Boeing 747-200Bs, usually designated as Air Force One. It is used more by the vice president and first lady, Melania Trump, than by the president.
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from the White House or Prestwick Airport.
Leaving the country before leaving office formally would be unprecedented for a president of the United States.
Flying to Scotland before January 20 would be a way to get US taxpayers to pay for the first leg of a post-presidential holiday. It is also possible that the flight was booked as a contingency by a candidate surprised by the defeat and not knowing what to do.
Several reports suggest that he will face serious difficulties in his highly indebted business empire.
New reports published on Monday showed that Trump’s range of golf properties in Scotland lost £ 3.4 million in 2019, although Trump Turnberry showed a modest profit.
Meanwhile, his neighbors in Mar-a-Lago have launched a legal effort to prevent him from moving there full time, saying that he is hampered by an agreement he signed in the early 1990s, converting ownership of a residence in a club.
Wherever Trump goes on January 20, the exit is unlikely to be smooth or particularly dignified. But it will be different from any presidential exit the country has ever witnessed.