President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on November 13, 2024 in Washington D.C.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday (November 13, 2024) met President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House to ensure a smooth transition of power, a hallmark of American democracy which took a break four years ago.

In a brief meeting, the two leaders assured the nation of a peaceful transition of power on January 20, 2025.

Mr. Biden said, “welcome back” to Mr. Trump, and the two leaders shook hands.

He congratulated Mr. Trump on his victory and said he looked forward to a smooth transition.

“Well, Mr. President-elect, Donald, congratulations… and I look forward to having a smooth transition. Welcome,” Mr. Biden said.

“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. The transition is so smooth, and it will be as smooth as it can get…,” Mr. Trump said in his remarks.

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

Washington:

Joe Biden will meet with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday after the US leader pledged an orderly transfer of power following the Republican’s decisive election victory.   

Biden and Trump will meet at the Oval Office at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), the White House said Saturday, with the clock ticking down to the ex-president’s return to power in January.

Trump sealed a historic comeback to the White House in the November 5 election, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics overshadowed by his hardline, disruptive right-wing politics.

The 78-year-old won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a “fascist.”

Exit polls showed that voters’ top concern remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Biden in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

Biden, who dropped out of the race in July over concerns about his ability to continue at the age of 81, called Trump to congratulate him after his election win.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)