
President Donald Trump has departed on a five-stop diplomacy tour through Europe and the Middle East that will cover 15,600 miles in the air over the course of nine days.

The president, the first lady Melania Trump, Chief of staff Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, left the White House aboard Marine One just before 2pm Friday, EST.

Fifteen minutes later, the group arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The first couple stopped and waved as they boarded Air Force One. They are currently on a 12-hour flight to Saudi Arabia.

The chaos-courting leader of the free world is meeting his crucial first test abroad while facing a chain-reaction scandal of his own making, which exploded when he fired his FBI director last week.

No sooner had the President and his entourage left terra firma on Friday, more revelations threatened to add fuel to the fire under the president. The New York Times claim that when President Trump met with Russian officials he called then FBI Director Comey 'crazy and 'a real nut job.'

Then the Washington Post claimed the FBI investigation of Russian interference during the 2016 election pointed the finger at a senior White House official close to the president. A New York Magazine reporter then claimed in an unconfirmed tweet that the person is senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

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President Donald Trump has departed on a five-stop diplomacy tour through Europe and the Middle East that will cover 15,600 miles in the air over the course of nine days

He and First Lady Melania Trump are seen boarding Air Force One on Friday afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are also on the nine day trip that has its first stop in Saudi Arabia

Windblown: It wasn't revealed that Ivanka would be traveling with her husband and father until the last minute

The president, the first lady, Chief of staff Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, left the White House aboard Marine One just before 2pm Eastern

Vice President Mike Pence (right) was on hand to see President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump off

The president waves goodbye, hopefully to leave the turmoil of the last week behind as he leaves for his first foreign trip

Tête-à-tête: The President and Vice President share some last words as Pence gets set to say farewell to the departing leader

MAKE SURE IT'S STILL HERE WHEN I GET BACK: Trump heads to the Middle East and Europe under a cloud of suspicion over his firing of firing of FBI Director James Comey, who he reportedly tried to influence

I'M COUNTING ON YOU, MIKE: Pence will hold down the White House while Trump is gone on his nine-day overseas trip

Ring a ding ding: The First Lady's diamond engagement ring is front and center as she recahes to embrace the vice president

Moving in for the smooch. Melania is clearly very fond of the Vice President!

ONE FOR THE ROAD: Vice President Mike Pence gives First Lady Melania Trump a kiss on the cheek as she prepares to depart for Joint Base Andrews with her husband

TA TA FOR NOW: The president and first lady pose for pictures as they walk to Marine One on the South Lawn

President Donald Trump said Friday, after a quiet morning at the White House he was 'getting ready for my big foreign trip'

The last four presidents confirmed their first trips abroad to Canada and Mexico, but Trump is going big before going home

The last four U.S. presidents kept their first international voyages confined to North America. Not so for Trump.

He will deliver a high-stakes speech about Islam in the heart of Saudi Arabia, meet with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nemesis Mahmoud Abbas and take in an audience with Pope Francis.

And that's before a NATO summit and a meeting of the G7 leaders.

Trump said Friday, after a quiet morning at the White House he was 'getting ready for my big foreign trip.'

'Will be strongly protecting American interests - that's what I like to do!' he said.

Now, with the eyes of the world upon him, the president will embark on his big trip carrying the baggage of dire troubles at home. As he tries to calm allies worried about his 'America First' message, he'll be followed at every step by news the appointment of a special counsel to probe his campaign's alleged ties with Russia.

'Welcome to the White House abroad,' said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's former press secretary. 'This is a great opportunity for the president to change the subject, to make real news. But the downside is that it could be dominated by domestic-style questions. ... Every first trip is over-scrutinized. The whole world is watching.'

'There has never been a president taking his first international trip being dogged by scandal like this,' said Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

'He's already a president viewed skeptically by much of the world. And while the pictures from the trip may be great, the White House can't change the headlines that will follow him wherever he goes.'

Trump's itinerary is heavy with religious symbolism. He'll visit the birthplace of Islam, the Jewish homeland and the Vatican. Officials say the message is 'unity.'

'He strongly believes that it is the strength of the faith of people in these religions that will stand up and ultimately be victorious over ... forces of terrorism,' Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

The president, the first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Pence left the White House aboard Marine One just before 2pm Eastern

ARE YOU READY? The first couple will spend 12 hours in the air on their overnight flight to Saudi Arabia

HAND IN HAND: Jared and Ivanka, both of whom are senior advisors to the president, are traveling on Air Force One, too

It looks like Jared and Ivanka left there three children behind to escort the president on his nine-day trip

With the eyes of the world upon him, the president will embark on his big trip carrying the baggage of dire troubles at home

Trump will have an audience with Pope Francis and coffee with the Saudi king. Mid-East peace meetings are scheduled with both Netanyahu and Abbas

'Will be strongly protecting American interests - that's what I like to do!' Trump said in a Friday morning tweet that preceded his departure

IN: Reince Priebus, the president's chief of staff (second from right) and Keith Schiller, the president's personal security guard (far right); OUT: Vice President Mike Pence and Counselor Kellyanne Conway (far left)

The Saudi government is playing up the Trump visit, hinting at cooperation with the U.S. to fight Islamic radicalism in the region

United States flag is seen as royal guard patrols the hotel where US President Donald Trump will stay in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday

In Saudi Arabia, the president – whose campaign was marked by heated anti-Muslim rhetoric and whose administration has tried to enact a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries – will deliver a speech to the Islamic world meant to be a clear contrast with the vision Obama laid out in his first trip to the region.

In Israel, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, looking to smooth over fresh tensions. Israel was in an uproar earlier this week after U.S. officials confirmed Trump shared highly classified intelligence about the Islamic State group with senior Russian officials visiting the White House.

The information, about an ISIS threat related to the use of laptops on aircraft, came from Israel and there were concerns a valuable Israeli asset could be in danger, a U.S. official said, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive material.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster added to the alarm by refusing to declare the Western Wall a part of Israel. U.S. policy holds that ownership of the holiest site where Jews can pray, as with the rest of Jerusalem, is subject to Israeli-Palestinian negotiation.

In Rome, the president will call upon Pope Francis, the popular, liberal-minded pontiff. Trump denounced Francis during the campaign, calling the holiest man in the Catholic faith 'disgraceful' for questioning his faith.

THE DONALD'S DIPLOMACY TOUR President Trump embarks Friday on a 15,500-mile trek through the Middle East and Europe, courting controversy at every stop. His itinerary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, May 20-21 The president will meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for coffee and participate in a signing ceremony expected to focus on arms sales. After a meeting with leaders of more than a dozen Muslim-majority countries, he will deliver a speech about Islam that the White House is hoping will diffuse tensions resulting from his travel ban while also cementing the U.S.-Saudi relationship as a bulwark against both ISIS and Iran's nuclear ambitions. Trump will also participate in the grand opening of a cultural center dedicated to fighting Islamic radicalism and promoting a more moderate approach to practicing the religion. TEL AVIV AND JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, May 22-23 Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visit Jerusalem's famed Western Wall. A planned trip to the ancient Masada fort was scrapped after it was determined that the Marine One helicopter couldn't land there – and the U.S. Secret Service was unwilling to put the president in a dangling cable car. Trump does plan to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was buried and rose from the dead. He will also stop to pray at the Western Wall and lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, a Holocaust memorial. BETHLEHEM, THE WEST BANK, May 23 A high-stakes meeting with Mahmoud Abbas will mark Trump's second sit-down with the Palestinian Authority's president. Making progress toward an ever-elusive peace deal between Arabs and Jews is the most crucial foreign policy objective of the trip, according to White House insiders. VATICAN CITY, May 24 Trump's audience with Pope Francis could be a tense one, since the Pontiff questioned Trump's commitment to Christianity during last year's election campaign in reaction to his pledge to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump fired back, writing that '[f]or a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.' Still, he will take advantage of the Holy See's hospitality with a full tour of St. Peter's. BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, May 24-25 The president's first meeting with leaders from all 28 NATO member nations will provide him the opportunity to press them for greater financial contributions toward keeping Russia in check. His scheduled speech at the summit will also give him the breathing room to proclaim America's undying commitment to NATO, even though Trump called the alliance 'obsolete' while he was campaigning. Along the way the president will meet Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and Prime Minister Charles Michel. He will also have a working lunch with newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron. TAORMINA, ITALY, May 26-27 The 43rd G7 summit, held on the island of Sicily, will be a chance for Trump to 'press America's economic agenda and call for greater security cooperation,' according to National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. It will also allow the president to appear presidential and calm the free world's top economic powers about his leadership style. Trump will also attend a dinner hosted by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, after seeing the famed La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra perform. Advertisement

Trump will meet with his old friend Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel ...

In Brussels, Trump will attend a meeting of NATO, the World War II-era alliance which Trump has repeatedly mused about abandoning because member states weren't paying their fair share. He recently has shifted to reassure wary allies that he remains committed to the pact.

And in Sicily, the president will meet with the other leaders of the G7, a gathering of Western economic powers. Key parts of the group are unsettled by Trump's unpredictability and his willingness to cheer on nationalist sentiment.

Trump's trip was always going to be dramatic. U.S. allies have been rattled by his warnings about pulling back from the world. He is tasked with urging a united front against terror by appealing to some of the same corners of the Muslim world he has tried to keep out of the United States with his travel ban. Last week, he added new layers of complication by disclosing classified intelligence to a longtime adversary.

Still, the White House once hoped the trip, wrapped in the pomp and circumstance of diplomatic protocol, could offer a chance at a reset after a tumultuous first four months in office.

Trump's advisers saw it as an opportunity for the United States to boldly reassert itself on the world stage and resume a leadership role that the administration believes was abdicated by President Barack Obama.

... and also pay a visit to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority

The U.S. Secret Service won't allow Trump to travel on a dangling cable car to the old Masada fortress in the Judean desert, so he has been forced to skip that part of his planned itinerary

Pope Frances feuded with Trump last year, questioning his Christianity – and drawing a retort form the future president that he was 'disgraceful' – but the two men will meet at the Vatican

After the Pontiff questioned Trump's Christianity over his promise to wall off Mexico from the United States, the then-presidnetial candidate fired off a vicious reply on Facebook

Trump's powerful senior adviser, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, led a West Wing team to craft the agenda, laden with religious symbolism.

But Trump hasn't been eager to seize the opportunity. It's been more than a half-century since any president waited as long to take his first foreign trip. The itinerary is a startlingly ambitious excursion for a president who dislikes travel and has displayed a shaky grasp of foreign affairs.

Administration officials believe the unexpected move of going to Saudi Arabia first was meant to underscore the seriousness of the United States' commitment to fighting extremist groups like the Islamic State. Trump, whose denunciations of Iran have been welcomed by the Saudis, wants to frame the conflict not as one between the West and Islam, but simply between good and evil, according to his aides.

While some Middle East leaders will likely greet Trump warmly, he could receive a far cooler reception in Europe.

Though Pope Francis has said he'd 'never make a judgment about a person without hearing him out,' others on the continent have sharply criticized Trump. That includes France's newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, who denounced Trump's musings on abandoning the Paris climate treaty, a likely point of contention in Sicily.

Trump's inauguration sparked thousands of protesters to fill the streets of several European capitals, chaotic scenes that could be repeated during his stops in Rome, Brussels and Sicily.