WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Republican President Donald Trump hailed his administration’s record as he left the White House for the last time this morning (January 20), hours before President-elect Joe Biden assumes the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, 78, will become the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

Trump left the White House with his wife Melania just after 8 a.m. (1300 GMT) by helicopter on his way to a sendoff event at Joint Air Force Base Andrews, where he promised supporters “we’ll be back in some form” and listed his administration’s accomplishments before flying off to Florida.

Top Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, were not there to see Trump depart. Shortly after Trump finished his remarks, Biden left the presidential guest house in Washington on his way to church, where he was joined by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.

Trump’s refusal to greet his successor and attend the inauguration represents a break with more than a century and a half of political tradition, seen as a way to affirm the peaceful )transfer of power.

With only a small number of attendees present, Biden will take the oath of office before U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), placing his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in the Biden family for more than a century.

His running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, will become the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president after she is sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.

The ceremony will unfold in front of a heavily fortified U.S. Capitol, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building two weeks ago, enraged by his false claims that November’s election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes.

The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time.

Thousands of National Guard troops were called into the city after the siege, which left five people dead and briefly forced lawmakers into hiding. Instead of a throng of supporters, the National Mall will be covered by nearly 200,000 flags and 56 pillars of light meant to represent people from U.S. states and territories.