WASHINGTON – It’s finally time for President Trump to find a permanent space in Mar-a-Lago for his $ 50,000 golf simulator, not to mention the 60-inch television he proudly displayed above the dining room table, her collection of Brioni Suits and the corresponding Louis Vuitton suitcases of the first lady she carried around the world.
On Wednesday at 12:01 pm, hours after Trump himself planned to leave Washington, all the things from the first family will have followed him through the door of the White House, en route to his new home in Palm Beach, Florida. And at the end of the day, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, will arrive in a very clean room, where their bags will be unpacked, their furniture tidy and their favorite food stored in the refrigerator.
It is the strange pas de deux that runs every four or eight years when one family moves and another moves, a project run by 90 people at the White House residence in about five hours. A complicated and highly choreographed process is carried out on a tight schedule that often requires packing everything left out of the suitcase – some presidents who are leaving are more prepared to leave the executive mansion than others.
This year, people involved in the process said, the move day also involves additional cleaning and safety precautions because of the coronavirus.
“The team is sleeping in beds, on stairs,” said Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, including during the 2009 transfer to the Obamas. No matter how prepared they are, she said, “it is always chaotic.”
Biden moving vans are not allowed to start unloading until the new president is installed, although some of the family’s belongings have been stored in a warehouse in Maryland since the weekend. Then, the residence should be transformed into something similar to your home by the time they arrive in the late afternoon.
All of this is part of a White House ritual that Trump did not completely interrupt. But, like everything else in politics and life, this year will be more difficult than most.
The Bidens were never invited to meet with the residence staff, nor to search the second floor of the White House, which has 16 bedrooms and six bathrooms and will now be their home. Michelle Obama, on the other hand, had visited the White House twice at the invitation of Bush before her husband took office in 2009.
“Mrs. Trump should have invited Biden to traditional coffee,” said Capricia Marshall, who served as the White House social secretary in the Clinton administration and oversaw the president’s departure in 2001, referring to Melania Trump, the first lady. “Usually, she comes prepared with questions, she meets and talks to the chef, the staff at the residence full time and has the opportunity to break the ice. It’s a courtesy, but logistically it’s extremely helpful. It didn’t happen.”
Mrs. Trump, according to CNN, has been packing for weeks, looking forward to moving out of the White House with her 14-year-old son Barron and moving on with their lives. She had no communication with Dr. Biden.
The Biden transition team, however, is in contact with Timothy Harleth, the chief porter who was hired by Ms. Trump in 2017 from her post as room director at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, to coordinate the move.
Harleth’s appointment was highly unusual: the chief porter used to be an apolitical civil servant, often with military training, who did not work with administrations. Because of Mr. Harleth’s connection to the Trump Organization, some speculated that he would be leaving with the outgoing president.
Although he has not discussed his future with Dr. Biden, Harleth is expected to stay for the time being, according to administration officials, dealing with personnel issues, planning family dinner menus and managing the household budget. He made it clear that he is very eager to stay permanently and does not want to be seen as loyal to Trump, although he has also hired other members of the Trump property team. (He told people, for example, that he never met the Trumps until his interview for the White House.)
At this point, there are more pressing concerns. Biden’s advisers are so concerned about the thorough cleaning of the complex to protect its new inhabitants from the coronavirus that some have even advised the president-elect not to move on January 20 and stay at Blair House, the nearby inn where he and his family are going. stay on Tuesday night, instead.
“All of the first family spaces are cleaned and sanitized all the time, including on January 20,” said Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, who declined to provide further details, citing security and privacy issues.
The Bidens plan to move to the White House on January 20, but they will move with the bare minimum: there are no plans to immediately bring in an interior decorator or start customizing the space.
Biden’s transition ›
Answers to your questions about the inauguration day:
Joseph R. Biden Jr. will become President of the United States at noon on January 20, in a reduced inauguration ceremony. While the key elements will remain traditional, many events will be reduced and “reimagined” to better adapt the celebration to a nation that is fighting the coronavirus. Mr. Biden will be sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the West Front of the Capitol just before noon. The new president is then expected to make his inaugural speech and review the military troops, as is tradition. But instead of a traditional parade in front of spectators cheering along Pennsylvania Avenue as the new president, vice president and their families head to the White House more than a kilometer away, there will be an official escort with representatives from all over the world. branches of the armed forces for a block.
President Trump announced on Friday that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration. Mr. Biden called this decision “one of the few things he and I have already agreed to. Still, it is a major break with tradition for a president to skip the ceremonial heart of the country’s democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.
George W. Bush confirmed that he will travel to Washington for the inauguration day, along with Laura Bush, the former first lady. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also expected to attend, along with former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton. This year, tickets are not available to the public. Planners are asking people to stay at home and attend virtual inaugural events to avoid large crowds that could easily spread the coronavirus. The events will be broadcast live by the Inaugural Presidential Committee and The New York Times.
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution requires that the term of office for each elected president and vice president begins at noon, January 20 of the year after the election. Every president has taken an oath of office and cannot take office without doing so. Symbolically, it marks the peaceful transfer of power from the current president to the next. The inauguration day will be even more important this year, as Biden ascends to the presidency at a time when the political division threatened the country’s democratic institutions and his predecessor did everything to remain in power.
“It’s a crazy race,” said Betty Monkman, the White House curator for more than three decades who helped oversee the 2001 move from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush. “Sometimes, beds need to be brought in, living rooms are converted into bedrooms.”
The curators of the White House Historical Association will have compiled books and photos of items from their collection that can be borrowed, as well as blueprints showing the layout of the rooms for the Bidens to review, Monkman said. The Carter, for example, moved to the White House with very little furniture of their own, relying mainly on pieces from the permanent collection.
The task of the residence staff can be even more difficult because the Inauguration Day festivities themselves will be reduced and possibly shorter.
Usually, the hectic working day starts at around 10:30 am, after the president and first lady leave for the Capitol to attend the opening events. This year, there is no parade or lunch at the Capitol, which means that the preparation time for the residency can also be shortened.
Change is always more stressful if a president leaves the White House after a term. “The benefit the Clintons had was that they knew before taking possession that they were leaving,” said Marshall. “There was never any doubt. They really took advantage of the past year to plan, to assess what and how they were going to move. “
For Trump, who spent the transition contesting the election results, preparing to leave the White House was not a major concern.
The outgoing president’s departure is generally a tradition that includes bittersweet moments between the presidents and the team that served them. While cleaning his closet during some of his final hours at the White House, Clinton sat down with his butlers and personal servants and helped them choose which presidential ties they would like to maintain. Pete Souza, the former White House photographer, shared on Monday a photograph of President Barack Obama hugging the woman who delivered his mail to him every day as he said goodbye.
It is unclear whether or when Mr. Trump plans to say goodbye to a team he has never been very close to, as he plans to leave for Palm Beach on Wednesday morning.
His early departure, however, can be a gift for his team, who will have a little more time to start the hectic preparations.
“The good news is that there is a process, there is a checklist,” said McBride. “The team knows what it needs to do. And the Bidens know the building, they know the people. They’ve been there a lot. “