President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
HE JUST ARRIVED ON AIR FORCE ONE AND WAS GREETED BY FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP:
The president’s visit stretches from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, when he will travel to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. He’s then expected to head back to Washington, D.C.
Here are five key things to know while Trump is in town:
1. This is Trump’s first visit to Palm Beach since his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Before this trip, Trump’s last visit to his Palm Beach home was over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, when he was still president-elect.
While in town, he played golf twice: once with Tiger Woods at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course, and a second time on New Year’s Eve at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
Trump and first lady Melania attended a Christmas Eve church service at the historic Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, where the couple was married and their son, Barron, was christened.
2. The Trumps are expected to attend the 60th annual Red Cross Ball on Saturday night.
The event was planned to be held at Mar-a-Lago well in advance of Trump’s presidential election win, but that hasn’t kept it from being a source of controversy. As the Red Cross prepares to possibly aid refugees affected by Trump’s recent executive order, some have called for the organization to postpone or move the gala.
However, the Red Cross Ball has a history at Mar-a-Lago. The estate’s first owner, cereal heiress Marjorie Meriweather Post, was a noted supporter of the Red Cross, and began hosting the annual fundraiser there in 1957.
3. This will be Melania Trump’s first public appearance with her husband since the inauguration.
Soon after the election, it was announced Melania and Barron, 10, would live in Trump Tower in New York City until Barron finishes his school year.
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, has accompanied him on visits typically attended by the first lady, according to The New York Times.
4. Protesters are expected to march through West Palm Beach on Saturday.
Two local groups, South Florida Activism and Women’s March Florida, are hosting a modified version of an earlier plan to march from Trump Towers in downtown West Palm Beach to Mar-a-Lago. Now, organizers say the march will head south to an area in West Palm Beach that sits just across the Intracoastal from Trump’s lavish estate.
The march, which kicks off at 5 p.m., could draw more than 2,200 people.
5. Mar-a-Lago’s original owner wanted the estate to be used as a “winter White House.”
Post, who built the mansion and named it Mar-a-Lago because it stretches “from ocean to lake,” left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government in her will. However, federal officials said, “Thanks but no thanks,” citing the high cost to maintain the property and its position under one of Palm Beach International Airport’s primary flight paths.
More than 10 years later, Trump purchased the estate and its furnishings for a bargain: $10 million.
Via: Palm Beach Post
