President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Biden continued the tradition of inviting the newly elected president to meet at the White House after Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House Wednesday, a tradition between incoming and outgoing American leaders, though the courtesy was not extended to Biden after he won the 2020 election.
The pair met behind closed doors in the Oval Office for most of the meeting that lasted just under two hours. Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Trump’s incoming counterpart, Susie Wiles, joined the president and president-elect.
Biden had been seeking reelection against Trump until late July, when Biden dropped his bid. Vice President Kamala Harris lost the race to Trump after just over 100 days of campaigning as the Democratic nominee.
Harris did not attend the meeting, according to the White House.
In brief remarks before cameras, Biden congratulated his predecessor who will again take the oath of office in January as the nation’s 47th president.
“Well, Mr. President-elect, former president, Donald, congratulations,” Biden said, as Trump interjected with “Thank you very much, Joe.”
“And looking forward to having a, like I said, smooth transition, do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,” Biden continued. “And we’re gonna get a chance to talk about some of that today.”
Trump again thanked Biden and responded “And politics is tough. And it’s, many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today. And I appreciate it very much, a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as it can get. I very much appreciate that, Joe,” Trump said.
A ‘substantive’ conversation
First lady Jill Biden joined the president in greeting Trump and presented a handwritten letter of congratulations and offer for transition assistance addressed to incoming first lady Melania Trump, according to the White House.
The meeting got underway just after 11 a.m. Eastern, and the press was ushered out after the brief welcoming remarks and photo opportunity. Biden and Trump finished their private discussion at roughly 1 p.m. Eastern.
Neither addressed a large gathering of reporters and photographers outside afterward.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden and Trump had “a very good back and forth.”
“(Biden) wants you all to know that the president-elect was gracious, came with a detailed set of questions, it was, again, substantive” Jean-Pierre said at the daily press briefing.
Jean-Pierre declined to provide the meeting’s specifics but said “the length of the meeting tells you they had an in-depth conversation on an array of issues.”
Trump did not invite Biden to the White House following his 2020 presidential election win, nor did he attend his successor’s inauguration that occurred just 14 days after a mob of his supporters violently tried to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.
The president-elect’s transition team did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s inquiries on why Trump did not invite Biden to the White House in 2020.
Musk, Ramaswamy to head new initiative
The president-elect continues to announce numerous Cabinet and staff positions, stacking his administration with staunch loyalists.
Late Tuesday, Trump announced he named billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to what he describes as a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or shortened to “DOGE,” also the name for a popular internet dog meme and cryptocurrency in the last decade.
Trump said the new entity would function outside of government.
“To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” Trump said in a statement.
Musk was also present, sitting in the front row during Trump’s visit with House Republicans earlier Wednesday.
Also on Tuesday night, Trump announced Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his pick for secretary of Defense, a position that requires managing hundreds of billions in Pentagon spending.
Trump endorses Johnson
Trump joined House Republicans Wednesday morning before his meeting with Biden at the White House. At a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, Trump received a standing ovation from GOP lawmakers, according to congressional pool reports.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, introduced Trump, calling him a “singular figure in American history,” according to congressional pool reports.
House Republicans are also planning to have their leadership elections late Wednesday, but it’s expected that Johnson will be selected to continue the role, although an official vote for the speaker’s gavel will take place in January.
At the meeting, Trump threw his support behind Johnson to continue in his role as House speaker, according to NBC News.
During the meeting, Trump touted GOP wins in keeping control of the lower chamber. Although Republicans are on track to hold their slim majority, The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies upon for race calls based on decades of experience, has not called the House for Republicans though it might happen soon.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Republicans have 216 seats, just two short of the 218 seats needed for control. Democrats have 207 seats, with 12 races still to be called.
Trump also joked about wanting to run for another term in office — something that the U.S. Constitution prohibits, as presidents are limited to only serving two terms.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something,” Trump told members, who laughed, according to pool reports.
Democrats ready to push back
Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Pete Aguilar said Wednesday that Democrats are ready to work with the incoming administration in a bipartisan manner, but are also prepared to push back on efforts to further restrict reproductive rights, such as a national abortion ban, and any changes to the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re clear-eyed about the challenge ahead of us,” Aguilar, Democrat of California, said.
He acknowledged the failure of Democrats to regain control of the House.
“I think it’s appropriate for the current caucus to reflect on what happened, to listen to listen to our constituents, to listen to American people, to listen to our members, to gather data, and then to chart a path forward,” he said.
Aguilar added that Democrats plan to look at voter data to understand the issues important to their voting bloc.
“I don’t want to have broad generalizations of any group or geographic or otherwise, without that data in front of me,” he said. “I think it’s very clear to us that for people with two jobs, the economy is, gas and groceries and rent. We’ll need to speak to those issues if we’re going to be the party that speaks to our community members and people working, everyday Americans, then we need to speak to those issues, and … that’s on us to communicate.”