Biden welcomes Trump back to the White House in nearly 2 hour meeting

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Nov 13, 2024

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President Joe Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House on Wednesday and held a meeting with the incoming commander-in-chief that ran for nearly two hours.

“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. “I appreciate it very much. A transition that is so smooth, it will be 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 held a “cordial gracious and substantive” meeting in the Oval Office, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said. They were joined only by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and Susie Wiles, whom Trump has named as his incoming chief of staff.

“There was a very good back-and-forth,” Jean-Pierre said. “The length of the meeting tells you they had an in-depth conversation.”

Biden made the case to Trump to stand by Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who did not give any details about Trump’s response.

The president also briefed Trump on some legislative business like the need to pass a stopgap spending bill to fund the government and top up disaster funding after the recent hurricanes, Jean-Pierre said.

Trump, who also had a list of questions for Biden, left without appearing before, or speaking with, reporters.

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 concede he lost the 2020 election to Biden and did not cooperate with any transition activities. In 2016, former President Barack 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, did not play any role in the meeting between the two men.

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

Jill Biden penned a personal, handwritten note to Melania Trump that was given to Donald Trump to deliver to his wife.

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 his remaining 70 days in office, particularly winning Senate confirmation of federal judges.

He’s expected to journey to South America this week for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and a G-20 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.”

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