Joe Biden meets Donald Trump at White House, pledges smooth transition

Joe Biden and Donald Trump

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday met President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House. Biden welcomed Trump and congratulated him following his 2024 presidential election victory, saying that he looks forward to a smooth transition.

"Congratulations, looking forward to having a, like we said, smooth transition -- do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need. And we're going to get a chance to talk about some of that today," Biden said in the meeting with Trump, according to a White House statement.

Trump responded, "And politics is tough. And it's, in many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today. 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."

The First Lady also joined Biden in greeting Trump upon his arrival at the White House. She gave Trump a handwritten congratulatory letter, which also conveyed her team's readiness to assist with the transition. White House Chief-of-Staff Jeff Zients and incoming White House Chief-of-Staff Susie Wiles attended the meeting, according to the White House.

Following his victory over Democratic candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump is moving to finalize his foreign policy and national security team in preparation for his formal inauguration in January 2025.

On Tuesday, Trump announced several key apppointments, including former Congresswoman and Governor from South Dakota, Kristi Noem, as the Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and 'X' along with Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of Defense, William Joseph McGinley as White House Counsel, among others.

In a historic political comeback, Trump won a second term as President of the United States after securing 295 electoral votes in the 2024 presidential election, defeating Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, who garnered 226 votes.

Trump's return to the White House marks only the second time in US history that a president has served two non-consecutive terms. The first such instance was Grover Cleveland, who served as president in 1884 and 1892. Trump had earlier served as US President from 2016 to 2020.

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