President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional postelection meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said Saturday.
Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power under America's democracy.
But Trump, a Republican, did not host Biden, a Democrat, for a sit-down after the 2020 election, when Trump lost his reelection bid.
Trump sought the presidency four years later, and this week he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat. Trump is the first former president to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election.
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The White House said Biden called Trump this past Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office.
In a speech Thursday, Biden said he had assured Trump “that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve.”
Their upcoming meeting is set for 11 a.m.
