Biden and Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House says
UNB
Publish: 10 Nov 2024, 02:59 PM
WASHINGTON,
Nov 10 (AP/UNB) - President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump
for a traditional post election 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 then-President
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 again four years later, and on Tuesday he defeated Vice President
Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. Trump is the first former
president to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in
the 1892 election.
The White House said
Biden called Trump this past Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to
meet in the Oval Office. Their meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m.
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."
Asked about Trump as he
left church Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he was spending the
weekend, Biden said, "I'm going to see him on Wednesday."
End/UNB/AP/SU