(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump met with President Joe Biden as the Republican returned to the White House on Wednesday for the first time since his chaotic departure from office four years ago.
The two leaders sought to strike a gracious note in public as they undertook a ritual of the peaceful transition of power in the US that Trump didn’t offer to Biden in 2020. The lead up to the sit-down was drenched with drama, pulling together two men, who has each been forced to turn over the White House to their rival, and coming after a tumultuous presidential campaign that laid bare the nation’s stark divisions.
Biden welcomed Trump, offering him “congratulations” and saying that he looked forward to having “a smooth transition,” as they sat in the Oval Office. The president shook hands with his predecessor — and successor — and smiled at the press, with the two sitting in front of a roaring fireplace.
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“Politics is tough and it’s in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth,” Trump responded. “It’ll be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that, Joe.”
Biden and Trump were joined at the meeting by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“I look forward to leading a smooth transition and peaceful transfer of power,” Biden said in a post on X after the meeting, sharing a photo of the four in the Oval Office. “As I told the President-elect, my team is committed to doing everything we can to ensure the incoming administration has what they need.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Wednesday’s briefing told reporters the leaders met for approximately two hours, characterizing it as a “substantive meeting” that covered both “important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world.”
She added that Biden “raised important items on Congress’ to-do list for the lame-duck session, including funding the government and providing the disaster supplemental funding the president requested.”
The sit-down followed Trump’s attendance at a gathering of House GOP lawmakers earlier Wednesday morning — an opportunity to huddle with his party on pushing through his populist agenda — with Republicans poised to potentially control the White House and both branches of Congress. Trump offered a full endorsement for House Speaker Mike Johnson to retain the gavel, telling his party’s lawmakers that he was with the Louisiana Republican all the way, according to people familiar with the matter.
Earlier: Trump Backs Mike Johnson for Another Stint as House Speaker
The incoming president has already announced a stream of key staff nominations that promise to reshape the US federal government and he brought his most prominent billionaire supporter to Washington, Elon Musk, who joined Trump at the meeting with House Republicans.
The appearance of Musk could be a harbinger of the kind of unprecedented presence the world’s richest person could have in the nation’s capital when Trump officially takes over as president in two months.
Transition Underway
Washington is already shifting toward a second Trump term. On Tuesday, Trump announced that Musk and former primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a Department of Government Efficiency, a new entity Trump promised on the campaign trail would dramatically overhaul the government.
He also picked Army National Guard officer and Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to be his defense secretary, an unconventional choice for a position that has traditionally gone to military leaders, lawmakers or government officials with decades of experience.
For the transition, Trump is determined to do it his way. He is the first incoming president in decades not to seek government-funded support for his transition — a decision that could hold up security clearances, ethics reviews and other hand-off activities.
Not that Biden hasn’t offered. In a Rose Garden address last week, he said he would direct his administration to work with Trump’s team to ensure an orderly transition. “That’s what the American people deserve,” he said.
Such cooperation didn’t happen when Trump lost and his supporters in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection sought to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s win. His administration also dragged its feet in giving the Democrat’s team access to federal buildings and funds.
James Pfiffner, a George Mason University professor who studies presidential transitions, said that the disconnect would reduce the Wednesday meeting between Biden and Trump to mostly a photo opportunity.
“It’s primarily symbolic,” he said ahead of the meeting, predicting that “despite the things they’ve both said about each other, I expect it to be a cordial meeting.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declined to outline an agenda for the meeting, saying, “We try to keep these types of private conversations private.”
Still, she acknowledged Trump was free to discuss the contents of the meeting with the press afterward. “I would leave it certainly to Trump’s transition on whatever engagement that he’ll have with all of you,” Jean-Pierre said.
One likely subject: Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump has said he would seek a quick diplomatic end to the war, which could force Ukraine to cede some of its territory currently occupied by Russian forces. Biden, who has helped push multiple rounds of military aid through Congress and the Pentagon, has said it’s imperative for the US to continue to support Ukraine’s fight.
Trump has reportedly already spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, though the Kremlin denied the phone call.
After Trump’s post-election meeting with President Barack Obama in 2016, Trump was uncharacteristically impressed by the president-to-president briefing from his predecessor.
“I have great respect,” Trump said afterward, saying he wished the 90-minute meeting was even longer. “He explained some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved.”
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--With assistance from Nancy Cook and Hadriana Lowenkron.
(Updates with additional details in paragraphs 5-6)
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