Biden welcomes Trump back to the White House

WASHINGTON — President Biden welcomed President-elect Trump back to the White House on Wednesday for the traditional meeting with the incoming commander-in-chief.

“Welcome back,” Biden declared as the two men sat in front of a roaring fire.

“Politics is tough (but) it is a nice world today,” Trump replied after they shook hands. “It will be a smooth transition, as smooth as it can get.”

The lame-duck president wants the American people to see that the peaceful transfer of power is back as an enduring American norm, even though the once and future president didn’t give Biden the same courtesy four years ago.

The two leaders were expected to hold a one-on-one private meeting in the Oval Office.

Jean-Pierre said it would be up to Biden and Trump to determine the agenda for their meeting and will decide how long it takes.

Biden has ordered aides to carry out an “effective and efficient” transition to the incoming Trump administration.

“It’s the right thing to do (and) the American people deserve it,” Jean-Pierre said.

Trump refused to admit he lost the 2020 election to Biden and did not cooperate with any transition activities. In 2016, former President Obama held a longer-than-expected 90-minute meeting with Trump after the Republican won his first term in office.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost decisively to Trump in last week’s election, is not expected to participate in the meeting between the two men.

Former First Lady Melania Trump turned down First Lady Jill Biden’s invitation for a White House sit-down on Wednesday, citing a scheduling conflict.

White House protocol calls for the outgoing vice president to invite the incoming veep to a separate meeting.

So far there has been no date set for Harris to meet with Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Biden says he will continue to push to achieve some legislative and diplomatic goals during the remaining 70 days in office, particularly winning Senate confirmation of federal judges.

He’s expected to journey South America later this week for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and a G20 summit after that.

“He’s going to continue to talk about the progress we’ve made, strengthening our alliances,” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what the president is going to focus on.”