'She just wants to go home': Melania Trump is privately planning life after the White House, a new report says

• Melania Trump is thinking about life after the White House and privately planning out her future, according to a CNN report Wednesday.
• Sources close to the first lady's thinking told the news outlet that "she just wants to go home."
• Trump is also said to have asked whether any taxpayer money was available for her to cover future plans.
• The comments come amid President Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge that he lost the election.

Melania Trump has been thinking about life after the White House and privately planning her future, according to a CNN report Wednesday.

Sources close to the first lady told the outlet that she'd been preparing her move to the family's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

"She just wants to go home," a source familiar with Trump's thinking told CNN.

News of the plans comes with President Donald Trump continuing to refuse to publicly acknowledge his election defeat. Multiple news reports have noted in recent days that the president appears to be renovating his Florida home and setting up a dramatic exit from the White House on Inauguration Day.

Melania Trump, on the other hand, has been focused on her departure and has sent shipments to Florida and Trump's New York properties, CNN reported. One source told the outlet the couple's 14-year-old son, Barron, would complete his school year in Florida.

The first lady is also said to be considering ways to build on her image once she loses her title. Sources familiar with the discussions said she'd been thinking about authoring a coffee-table book on White House hospitality history and perhaps maintaining her "Be Best" public-awareness campaign on children's issues.

The first lady has even asked whether any taxpayer money was available for her to help cover future endeavors, CNN reported. She tapped a special government employee, Marcia Lee Kelly, to see whether a budget was allocated to outgoing first ladies, according to CNN. No such budget exists.

Read more: Meet Donald Trump's new nemeses: The 15 prosecutors and investigators from New York who are primed to pepper the ex-president with history-making civil and criminal investigations

In another notable move noted by CNN, Melania Trump has recently chosen the presidential china, a procedure routinely fulfilled by outgoing first ladies.

One source told CNN that a 2024 White House run by the president - as has been rumored - "might not go over well" with the first lady.

The first lady's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Melania Trump's chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN that "her schedule remains full with her duties as a mother, wife, and first lady of the United States."