When Donald and Melania Trump enter the White House next year on Inauguration Day, they’ll find it looks just like it did when they left it four years ago – even down to the Diet Coke button on the desk in the Oval Office.
That’s all thanks to the staff of the White House residence. The nearly 100 employees, who are nonpolitical and stay on from president to president, spend the morning of January 20th moving the departing commander-in-chief out and the incoming one in.
They have about five hours to get it all done. It’s a well-coordinated process that comes after months of planning. After all, the staff have known since President Joe Biden exited the presidential race in July that a new family was moving in – one way or another.
By the time the Trumps enter 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they’ll find their clothes in their closet, their preferred shampoo in the bathroom, and their favorite foods in the kitchen.
Family photos will be displayed. Furniture will be rearranged to their liking.
For the White House staff, it will be an easy transition. They know Donald and Melania Trump thanks to his first term in office.
‘It’s easier because they’ve lived there before,’ Kate Andersen Brower, author of The Residence, told DailyMail.com.
‘There aren’t any mysteries about what [the Trumps] would they like to have for breakfast, how they operate, what kind of shampoo they use. I mean, they know everything already.’
And while they know Donald Trump, they would have been ready if Kamala Harris had won the election.
‘They would have had done their research on Kamala Harris and her family and their kind of lifestyle,’ Brower said.
‘They would have already known kind of what to expect, especially since she was VP, there would be some understanding there. And they probably talked to staff at the Naval Observatory. There’s some relationship there between the White House residence staff and the Naval Observatory staff.’
The staff generally get along with whoever occupies the Oval Office. Their jobs are permanent and outside of the political process.
Many of them have worked at the White House for years and have served several presidents. Their loyalty is to the families that have lived there.
They include butlers, maids, housekeepers, chefs, cooks, doormen, florists, curators, electricians, plumbers, storekeepers, and engineers among others.
They like Trump and will welcome him back with open arms.
‘He would, like, tip them cash. I was told he would hand out $50 bills,’ Brower said.
In addition to preparing to move in the Trumps, the staff is packing up Joe and Jill Biden, who have called the White House home for the past four years.
Personal items will go in boxes and official documents go to the National Archives. Staff will sort everything carefully with curators on hand to note which objects are ‘ours’ (as in belong to the permanent White House collection) or ‘theirs’ – the property of the Bidens. They’ve likely already gotten started.
Traditionally, staff give the out-going president the flag that flew over the White House on his last day in office.
The job of transporting Willow the cat will likely go to Dale Haney, the chief groundskeeper at the White House and a known animal lover.
He walked the Bidens’ dogs when the German Shepherds lived at the White House. Before that he walked Sunny and Bo for the Obamas.
Neither Melania Trump’s office nor the Trump campaign answered DailyMail.com’s inquiries about their plan for the White House residence.
But the Trumps made their mark on the place in their first term.
Melania Trump worked with designer Tham Kannalikham to refurnish a number of rooms, including the Yellow Oval Room, the Queens’ Bedroom and the Center Hall.
She had those photographed before she left so staff will have reference points if they want to move the furniture back in those places.
When the White House Historical Association published its new guidebook on the executive mansion in 2022, which included photos of the residence, Melania Trump’s office told DailyMail.com that it showed only a small amount of her restoration work.
The then-first lady, who has a strong interest in design and architecture, took pride in her restoration work of the 232-year-old building.
‘Preserving the history of the People’s House for future generations was something that Mrs. Trump was very passionate about and took very seriously. She and her design team worked tirelessly to beautify the White House, but only a small amount of their creative execution adorns the pages of this book. In fact, her deliberate styling of the furniture and accessories was significantly rearranged throughout the book’s images,’ her office noted.
Each family puts its own mark on the residence so it reflects the needs of the occupants. For example, the Obamas, who had two young daughters, made the upstairs of the White House more homey and child-friendly.
For the upstairs rooms, which was the Trump family’s personal living space, Melania used soft pastel colors – yellow paint on the walls, pink and blue furniture, light-colored rugs – to give a relaxing and inviting feel.
She also added a Tennis Pavilion to the grounds and renovated some damaged furniture and accessories in the East Room and Red Room. And– to much controversy – she redid the White House Rose Garden.
Donald Trump put his mark on the Oval Office, including that now infamous Diet Coke button.
He could press the button whenever he wanted the soda, which he drank constantly. Walt Nauta, his personal valet who left the White House with him, was in charge of answering the call. Nauta would bring Trump a glass of Diet Coke on a silver tray.
Trump even joked about the red button, which was by his phone, saying people thought it was to activate nuclear weapons.
‘Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button,’ he said.
Trump also had pictures of his parents and his challenge coin collection on display. He also displayed a model of his redesign for Air Force One, painted in the same blue, red and white as his Trump Force One.
The Oval Office is always redone to reflect the occupant. For example, Biden used a dark blue rug on the floor. Trump used a soft beige one.
Both men used the Resolute Desk, which was built from the timbers of the British ship and given to America by Queen Victoria.
Each president also picks their own artwork, which became a subject of controversy when Democrats Biden and Barack Obama removed a bust of Winston Churchill that Republicans George W. Bush and Trump had in the Oval.
Besides the decorations, the biggest question is who the Trumps will hire to be chief usher.
The chief usher is the head of household staff and operations at the White House. The holder of the position runs the 55,000-square foot, six-floor White House residence and oversees the permanent staff.
The person answers directly to the president and first lady. They hire and fire staff and manage the funds allocated by Congress to run the house, including the cost of heating, lighting, air-conditioning and the staff’s salaries.
The position pays around $200,000 a year.
The job, which was once a non-political one, has become exactly that with presidents naming their own pick to run the household.
The Bidens hired Robert Downing as chief usher when they took over the residence. Downing has a long history in the hospitality industry.
Trump will likely pick their own as they did in the first term.
Downing replaced Timothy Harleth, who Melania Trump hired in 2017 after firing the Obamas’ chief usher. Harleth came to the White House from Trump International Hotel DC, where he was rooms manager.
Harleth’s departure was controversial with the Trump and Biden sides blaming each other on his departure. The Trump team claimed the Bidens asked them to fire Harleth and Biden’s side simply said Harleth was gone when the first couple arrived.
Harleth was seen at the White House on the morning of inauguration, preparing for the Bidens arrival.
But when the Bidens walked through the front gates and up the driveway on Inauguration Day to enter 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time as president and first lady, no one was waiting to greet them.
The duo stood awkwardly outside on the front porch before finally being let inside.
It’s unlikely the Trumps will rehire Harleth.
After Election Day in 2020, Harleth found himself in the increasingly difficult position of attempting to prepare the White House for a new tenant while the current occupant was refusing to concede the race.
Then-President Trump was furious with Harleth for sending binders of information on the transition process to Biden’s staff in preparation for move-in day.
