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U.S. President Donald Trump inaugurated the new White House helipad this Monday, from which he departed on Marine One toward Andrews Air Force Base to head to New York.
Before taking off on the first flight from the new facility, Trump cut a blue, white, and red ribbon with a large pair of golden scissors as an inaugural gesture.
Accompanying him on the flight were White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Director of Communications Margo Martin, and Presidential Assistant Natalie Harp.
The president and his entourage headed to JFK Airport in New York on Air Force One to attend the United Nations General Assembly sessions and the rest of the meetings scheduled for this week.
The plan to build a new helipad at the White House became known last May, at which time it was projected that it could be finished before the end of the summer.
The project had been considered for years to prevent damage to the lawn and gardens from which the presidential helicopter typically took off, but it had not been carried out.
Finally, the new facility was inaugurated this Monday, coinciding with the day that the main U.S. television networks—ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC—agreed to suspend joint coverage of Trump's events, following the White House's ban on media outlets CNN, MSNBC, and Politico.
The four networks, which share the responsibility with CNN for providing television coverage of presidential events and distributing footage worldwide, decided to stand in solidarity with their banned colleagues.
Trump, who announced the ban last Friday, defended his position again this Monday, asserting in a message on his Truth Social network that "the White House is not undertaking an attack on the free press."
The affected media outlets, CNN, MSNBC, and Politico, filed a lawsuit against the president this Monday before a federal judge at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The new helipad is in addition to a series of other works that Trump has carried out in the presidential complex since the start of his second term.
In addition to the flagship project, the Ballroom—for which he demolished the East Wing—modifications have been made to the Rose Garden and changes made to the Oval Office.
[Publicidad]