United States President-elect Donald Trump has been welcomed to the White House by outgoing President Joe Biden as part of a traditional transition meeting.
The meeting between the two rivals in the Oval Office on Wednesday comes after a confrontational election campaign, in which Biden dropped out over the summer following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.
However, his vice president and successor as Democratic candidate for the presidency, Kamala Harris, lost out to Trump in the November 5 election by a decisive margin.
The two men greeted each other with a handshake in front of the cameras, as Biden told Trump he looked forward to a “peaceful transition”.
“I look forward to having a smooth transition and do everything we can to make sure you are accommodated, what you need. We’re going to get a chance to talk about some of that today,” Biden said to Trump, in front of a roaring fireplace. “Welcome back.”
Trump himself said that the transition would be “smooth as you can get”.
“Politics is tough, and in many cases it’s not a very nice world,” Trump added. “It is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth, it will be as smooth as it can get.”
Speaking after the meeting, which comes almost two months ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration on January 20, Trump said that Biden had talked about Ukraine and the Middle East.
“I wanted – I asked for his views and he gave them to me,” Trump told the New York Post. “Also, we talked very much about the Middle East, likewise. I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks. And he gave them to me, he was very gracious.”
Trump also said that he and Biden had “both really enjoyed seeing each other”, and complimented Biden for doing “a very good job with respect to campaigning”.
The meeting between Biden and Trump marks a sharp turn of events from four years ago, when Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump disputed the election results and refused to host a transition meeting with Biden, or attend his inauguration.