Donald Trump has left the White House for the last time as president. He is being flown in Marine One to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where he will be holding a “sending off” ceremony which was due to start at 8am ET/1pm GMT. He briefly spoke to reporters as he departed, saying he had accomplished a lot in office and that he and his wife Melania loved the American people. After the ceremony at the military base he will then fly to Florida to his Mar-a-Lago resort. He will not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Trump said his administration had “left it all on the field”, and will not be saying to themselves they could have worked harder. He began to conclude his address by saying “You are amazing people and this is a great great country it is an honor and privilege to have been your president,” while the crowd chanted “Thank you Trump.”

He promised that he would be watching and listening, that the future of the country was great, and he wished the incoming administration success and luck, and said he thought they would be successful. He said they had the foundations to do something really spectacular, and that his administration had “put it in a position where it’s never been, before despite being hit with the worst plague since 1917.”

Donald Trump has departed for Florida aboard Air Force One.

Air Force One has taken off to head to Florida, accompanied by music blaring Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as if it was a Trump campaign rally.

The most senior Republican to attend Trump’s farewell event at Joint Base Andrews was his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Trump walked across the tarmac to shake the loyalist’s hand before processing past troops from different branches of the military, who were standing to attention and wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, with the pandemic wildly out of control across the US.