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

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump met in the Oval Office on Wednesday, resuming a tradition that Trump himself flouted in 2020.

The two men, seated by a roaring fire, shook hands before reporters and news cameras.

Biden spoke first, calling for a “smooth transition” and telling Trump he will do “everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated.”

Trump followed by thanking Biden.

“Politics is tough, and it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world but it is a nice world today,” Trump said. “And I appreciate it very much. A transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that, Joe.”

They did not answer questions.

The meeting appears to have lasted a little less than two hours before Trump departed.

First lady Jill Biden joined President Biden in greeting Trump upon his arrival, according to the White House. She gave Trump a handwritten letter of congratulations for Melania Trump, which also expressed her team’s readiness to assist with the transition.

The first lady’s office confirmed that a joint invitation was extended to the Trumps to meet at the White House. But Melania Trump did not travel to Washington with her husband on Wednesday.

“Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success,” Melania Trump’s office said in a statement.

In 2016, Michelle Obama hosted Melania Trump at the White House when then-President Barack Obama invited Trump just days after the election. The two men met for 90 minutes, and Obama called the conversation “excellent.”

Vice President Harris did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.

According to the White House, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles were in the meeting with Trump and Biden.

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

First, he declined to invite then-President-elect Biden to the White House in the weeks after the race while contending he hadn’t lost. Later, he skipped Biden’s inauguration, instead leaving Washington mere hours before the ceremony began.

But those customs returned as Trump arrived Wednesday at the White House.

It marks Trump’s first time back in the White House since ending his presidency under a cloud of election denialism four years ago. A week before his departure, he was impeached by the House for a second time as lawmakers charged him with “incitement of insurrection” after his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

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

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

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

“It is important not just 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 no matter who won.

Biden made preserving democracy a key message of his 2020 campaign and his 2024 reelection effort before dropping out, repeatedly blasting Trump as a threat to the institution over Jan. 6.

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

Asked by ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers what was on the agenda for their meeting, Jean-Pierre said the conversation would be private but that reporters will be allowed in the room to capture the start of their sit-down.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this past weekend, though, that Biden and Trump would go through both domestic and foreign policy issues.

While in Washington, Trump also made a stop near the Capitol to meet with House Republicans.

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

“It is a new day in America,” Speaker Mike Johnson proclaimed. He said Republicans were ready to begin delivering on Trump’s agenda on Day 1 of his administration.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.

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