New York: Future first lady Melania Trump and her 10-year-old son, Barron, will remain in New York after her husband, Donald Trump, becomes president.
Confirming a report that first appeared in the New York Post, Mr Trump said he planned to live in the White House but that his wife, 46, and Barron would not move in immediately.
More News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:53
Trump administration appointees worry faith groups
- Video duration
- 00:45
US police shootings in seperate 'ambush' attacks
- Video duration
- 02:13
France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy defeated
- Video duration
- 00:53
Deadly helicopter crash after violence in Rio slums
- Video duration
- 01:23
PM's praise for Obama
- Video duration
- 00:45
Girl trapped under truck rescued
- Video duration
- 01:09
Obama: 'Wait and see' about Trump
- Video duration
- 01:32
Obama: US is 'deeply concerned' about Syria
Trump administration appointees worry faith groups
An interfaith group in Washington, DC, condemned inflammatory remarks about Muslims made by several of Donald Trump's cabinet appointees.
He said they would move to the White House "very soon, right after he finishes school", Reuters reported.
It wasn't clear if that meant after the current school year, or high school.
Jason Miller, communications director of Mr Trump's transition team, said earlier there was "some sensitivity" to moving the boy out of his New York school in the middle of a school year.
"The campaign has been difficult for Barron, and [Mrs Trump] is really hoping to keep disruption to a minimum," an unidentified person "close to Trump's transition team" told the New York Post in an article published online on Sunday.
So far, the President-elect, who often likes to respond directly to news reports via social media, has remained silent on Twitter.
Mrs Trump has made no secret of her devotion to Barron, the youngest of the five Trump children.
She told People magazine last September that her primary role was not as a campaigner nor a political figure but as a mother, echoing a sentiment expressed by the self-described "mom in chief" Michelle Obama when her husband was first elected president.
"My husband is travelling all the time," she said. "Barron needs somebody as a parent, so I am with him all the time."
According to the New York Post article, she did not want to disturb Barron's schedule by pulling him out of his Manhattan private school in the middle of the academic year, but it is possible the mother and son would relocate to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in future.
A rare figure on the campaign trail, Mrs Trump still remains a mystery to most. We know she thinks her husband has a "good heart" and is a "great negotiator", that she plans to take on cyber bullying as first lady and that the white jumpsuit she wore during her husband's presidential victory speech was designed by Ralph Lauren. But not much else.
The question of whether she plans to move to Washington after her husband's swearing-in as president has been batted around consistently since the northern summer.
The President-elect reportedly plans to spend as much time as possible at the couple's penthouse at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, and at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump Tower has served as Mr Trump's campaign headquarters since the start of his run for the White House, but it is expected that most political operations will move to Washington once he takes office on January 20.
In New York, his wife and Barron will have around-the-clock Secret Service protection in the same way that they would have had at the White House.
Mrs Trump's decision to live about 370 kilometres from the White House would be unprecedented.
Nearly every first lady has taken up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
According to the White House Historical Association, George Washington and wife Martha did not live in the White House because it hadn't been built at the time of Washington's presidency.
Also, first lady Anna Harrison, whose husband, William Harrison, was the ninth president of the United States, never moved into the executive mansion because her husband died one month after his swearing-in.
Washington Post, EFE, Reuters