Trump returns to White House after Florida vacation

President Trump arrived back in Washington, D.C., on Thursday without speaking to reporters, marking a quiet end to his vacation to Florida.

Trump returned to the nation’s capital alongside first lady Melania Trump and a few White House aides, cutting his holiday trip to Palm Beach short ahead of the annual New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago property.

The White House did not provide a reason for why Trump was returning earlier than expected.

The president did not speak to the press during his week in Florida, and he did not stop for questions upon landing at Joint Base Andrews or upon returning to the White House, where reporters shouted questions about Iran and Trump’s plans for the inauguration.

Shortly after he entered the White House, Trump tweeted out a previously recorded message in which he praised Americans for showing “grit, strength, tenacity and resolve” throughout 2020 and boasted of his administration’s work in developing a coronavirus vaccine.

“This is one of the most extraordinary scientific, industrial and medical feats in history. Everybody has it at that,” Trump said. “That’s what they’re marking it down as, and we can never let people forget where it came from and how it came. We’re very proud to be honored, and all of the people that worked so hard on it, we have to be remembered for what’s been done.”

Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Georgia on Monday in support of Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) a day before their runoff elections.

But his attention will likely be focused in the coming days on the Jan. 6 certification of the Electoral College results affirming Joe Biden as the next president. Several of Trump’s allies in the House have said they will object to certain state results, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced Wednesday that he would do the same.

The move will not change the outcome or overturn the results, but instead will delay the process and force a vote Senate GOP leaders had hoped to avoid, putting senators on record as to whether they support Trump’s unproven claims of election fraud.