“I know where I’m going to go. I know the rooms where we will live. I know the process,” the new First Lady recently declared. She described their first move to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in 2017 as a “challenge”.
Regardless of who the president is, the entire process also poses a challenge for the White House residence staff: Maids, butlers and others who tend the president’s private space have about five hours – from start to finish – on Inauguration Day to get the first family out and settle in the next.
“Everything has to be planned down to the minute,” Melania Trump said on “Fox & Friends” on Fox News.
The clock begins to tick as the outgoing and incoming presidents leave the White House together to travel by limousine to the Capitol for the swearing-in.
“As soon as they leave, the Executive Residence staff springs into action,” Matthew Costello, education manager at the White House Historical Association, said during a recent online program on the history of the inauguration day. “Essentially, the staff works around the clock to inventory, process and move all the personal items of a first family leaving and a new one arriving.
After the swearing-in, the inauguration speech, the luncheon and the traditional parade, the new president enters the White House to find the family’s clothes, furniture and other personal effects in place and the kitchen full of his favorite dishes.
Monday’s schedule may be changed after Trump announced he was moving the inauguration ceremony indoors to the Capitol rotunda due to the bitter cold ahead. He also decided to turn what is usually a several-hour parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House into an indoor parade at a professional sports stadium.
When the ceremony begins, each family’s moving trucks, which have been waiting nearby, will be given the green light to pass through security barriers into the White House.
-Residence staff work in groups. Some will be responsible for packing the Biden family’s remaining belongings while another group will load the boxes into the designated truck. Other staff members will bring the Trumps’ belongings inside while another group unpacks them and places them where Melania Trump wants them.
The White House is deep cleaned between each family. Windows are washed, carpets are vacuumed or replaced, new mattresses are brought in, and all bedrooms and bathrooms are outfitted with new linens and towels.
The process typically begins after the November election, when the White House’s chief usher contacts the president-elect’s team to begin coordinating the move.
In November 2016, then-first lady Michelle Obama gave Melania Trump a tour of the living quarters when she accompanied Trump to his meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
But after losing re-election in 2020, Trump broke with tradition and refused to invite then-President-elect Joe Biden to a meeting. Melania Trump also did not invite Jill Biden to the residence.
This time around, Trump accepted Biden’s invitation to the Oval Office, while Melania Trump rejected Jill Biden’s offer to meet.
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