Donald Trump has left the White House for the final time as president, ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden.

The 45th president will travel to Florida instead of Joe Biden's inauguration.

Donald Trump pumped his fist and waved as he departed the White House on Marine One on Wednesday for the last time as US president.

"It's been a great honour, the honour of a lifetime. The greatest people in the world, the greatest home in the world," Mr Trump told reporters before heading to Marine One.

The Herald:

"We love the American people, and again, it has been something very special. And I just want to say goodbye but hopefully it's not a long term goodbye. We'll see each other again."

READ MORE: From the Paris Climate Accord to Covid rules - Joe Biden's first acts as US president revealed

Mr Trump will be the first president in modern history to boycott his successor's inauguration.

Marine One was headed to Joint Base Andrews where Air Force One was parked.

Four US Army cannons were waiting to fire a 21-gun salute to the president.

The Herald:

Hundreds of supporters greeted Mr Trump at Andrews.

By the time Mr Biden is sworn in, Mr Trump will already have landed at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Aides had urged Mr Trump to spend his final days in office trying to salvage his legacy by highlighting his administration's achievements - passing tax cuts, scaling back federal regulations, normalising relations in the Middle East.

But Mr Trump largely refused, taking a single trip to the Texas border and releasing a video in which he pledged to his supporters that "the movement we started is only just beginning".

The Herald:

In his final hours, Mr Trump issued pardons for more than 140 people, including his former strategist, rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.

Mr Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, will head to Florida with a small group of former White House aides as he charts a political future that looks very different now than just two weeks ago before the Capitol riot.

READ MORE: Trump impeachment: Why has Donald Trump been impeached, what happens next, who are the key players? 

The Herald:

During his time in the capital, Mr Trump rarely left the confines of the White House, except to visit his own hotel.