Trump and Biden both call for smooth transition in historic Oval Office meeting

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are meeting in the Oval Office, resuming a tradition that Trump himself broke in 2020.

The two men, seated near a roaring fire, shook hands. Biden spoke first, calling for a “smooth transition” and telling Trump that he would “do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated.”


Trump later thanked Biden.
“Politics is tough, and it’s not a very pretty world in many ways, but it’s a pretty world today,” Trump said. “And I appreciate that very much. A transition that’s been as smooth as it can be, and I appreciate that very much, Joe.”

They did not answer questions.

According to the White House, First Lady Jill Biden joined President Biden to greet Trump upon his arrival. She gave Trump a handwritten congratulatory letter from Melania Trump, which also expressed her readiness to help with the transition in her party.

The first lady's office confirmed that Trump had been extended a joint invitation to meet at the White House. However, Melania Trump did not travel to Washington with her husband on Wednesday.

Melania Trump's office said in a statement that she was "encouraged by her husband's return to the Oval Office to begin the transition process, and she wishes him great success."

In 2016, Michelle Obama hosted Melania Trump at the White House when then-President Barack Obama invited Trump a few days after the election. The two met for 90 minutes, and Obama called the conversation "great."

Vice President Harris did not attend Wednesday's meeting.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Gients and incoming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles are meeting with Trump and Biden, according to the White House.

After losing the 2020 election, Trump broke with two traditions that demonstrate the peaceful transfer of power in American democracy.

First, he refused to invite then-President-elect Biden to the White House in the weeks following the race when he was not defeated. Later, he skipped Biden’s inauguration, instead leaving Washington hours before the ceremony began.

But those traditions returned when Trump arrived at the White House on Wednesday.

This marks Trump’s first return to the White House since ending his presidency four years ago amid a cloud of electoral disapproval. A week before his departure, he was impeached by the House for a second time after lawmakers accused him of “inciting a riot” after his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump has vowed to return, and his comeback was complete last week. He swept all seven swing states, winning 312 electoral votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 226, and is on track to win the popular vote.

Biden spoke with Trump on Nov. 6 to congratulate him and extend a political olive branch by inviting him to the White House.

White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden did so because “he believes in the rules.”

“It’s not important because it’s important to him, but it’s important to the American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “The American people deserve this. They deserve a peaceful transfer of power. They deserve a smooth transition. And that’s what you’re going to see.”

Last month, before Election Day, the White House said Biden would attend the inauguration regardless of whether he wins.

Biden repeatedly blasted Trump as a threat to the establishment on Jan. 6, before abandoning the preservation of democracy as a core message of his 2020 campaign and his 2024 reelection bid.

“He wants to show the American people that the system works,” Jean-Pierre said.

When ABC News' White House correspondent Karen Travers asked what was on the agenda for their meeting, Jean-Pierre said the conversation would be private but that reporters would be allowed into the room to capture the beginning of their sit-down.

National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan said this past weekend, however, that Biden and Trump would go over both domestic and foreign policy issues.

While in Washington, Trump also stopped by the Capitol to meet with House Republicans.

House Republican leaders took an early victory lap Tuesday as the party moved closer to a "trifecta" — or control of the White House, Senate and House. ABC News has not yet estimated the balance of power in the House, although Republicans are three seats away from a majority.

"It's a new day in America," Speaker Mike Johnson declared. He said Republicans were ready to start delivering on Trump's agenda on the first day of his administration.

///ABC NEWS///