Official White House Photo by Andrea HanksBy JOHN SANTUCCI, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — As New York officials make aggressive moves to cut ties with President Donald Trump, planning has been underway for the president and some of his adult children to ditch the Empire State.
The president and first lady Melania Trump have made no secret of their impending move to Florida after Jan. 20, but they won’t be alone.
The president’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle have been on the house-hunt in the Palm Beach area and are expecting to sell their home in the Hamptons for a more welcoming neighborhood, a source familiar with their moves told ABC News.
Sources familiar with the plans confirm that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, plan to relocate to the Sunshine State in the coming weeks, having recently purchased a plot of land to develop a home in the Miami area as first reported by Page Six and confirmed by ABC News.
The planning by the Trumps comes as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that he was canceling the city’s contracts with the Trump Organization, estimated to be worth $17 million.
“This is nothing more than political discrimination, an attempt to infringe on the First Amendment, and we plan to fight vigorously,” Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said in response to the move.
A source close to the family said, “They need to go dark for a bit, reassess what’s next for each of them.”
Donald Jr. and Ivanka have been the most politically active of Trump’s adult children, and sources believe Donald Jr. will remain active within the Republican Party, fundraising for down-ballot races as he did in the 2018 midterm and 2020 election cycles.
Ivanka, according to a source familiar with her thinking, “has not ruled anything out,” but had been discussing ways to remain active in politics prior to the riots on Capitol Hill last week.
“This has complicated everything,” a separate source close to the family acknowledged.
Despite the Florida migration, two investigations by prosecutors in the Empire State are ongoing. The state attorney general has been investigating Trump’s finances and whether his company inappropriately received tax benefits at properties in Westchester County. The Manhattan district attorney, who has already won one Supreme Court battle seeking the president’s tax returns, is awaiting a decision on a second as he investigates the Trump Organization’s financial dealings.
Allies of the president speculate there could be more of a departure of the Trump orbit from New York, citing Trump’s animosity toward state and city officials, some believe it is possible that more of the company’s operations could follow the family to Florida — though nothing has been decided to this point.
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