As if being New Yorkers isn’t embarrassing enough for the whole city (and the country) according to the New York Post, future First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will NOT be moving to the White House after Emperor Cheeto‘s inauguration in January.
Mom and 10-year-old son are staying put at their gaudy Trump Tower penthouse so that Barron can continue attending his private school (which costs around $40,000 a year) on the Upper West Side. A source close to Trump’s transition team told the Post,
“Melania is extremely close to Barron, and they have become closer during the campaign. The campaign has been difficult for Barron, and she is really hoping to keep disruption to a minimum.”
Another source said Melania will travel to the White House as needed, but that her primary focus is Barron.
“Melania is very supportive of her husband and is fully on board of doing everything that’s needed as first lady.“
There is a possibility that Melania and Barron may move to the White House at the end of the school year, but no plans as of yet.
Of course, the decision to remain in NYC will increase the security presence around Trump Tower — an effort which involves both the Secret Service and the NYPD. Jim Reese, a former Delta Force commander and president of TigerSwan, a global security company said,
“That building is going to become the White House of New York. The Secret Service is going to have to keep that whole area cordoned off so that some wacko can’t get close and detonate a car bomb.”
At a joint NYPD, Secret Service and City Hall news conference Friday it was announced that strict security measures around Trump Tower will remain in place, with two of the five lanes on Fifth Avenue between West 56th and 57th streets closed because of barriers.
Following the election, the whole area around Trump Tower has turned into a traffic nightmare, with West 56th Street closed to traffic between Fifth and Madison avenues. (I’ve experienced it first-hand. Nightmare is NOT overstating what it is…)
Barron and Melania will each have an unknown number of Secret Service agents assigned to them and an advance team of agents will swoop down on the school each morning to make sure it’s safe. (T/Y Tad; Photo, Getty; via NY Post)