President Joe Biden will meet with his replacement, President-elect Donald Trump, this Wednesday in the Oval Office, the White House announced Saturday.
Biden extended the invitation to Trump, who decisively beat Vice President Kamala Harris last week in the U.S. presidential election.
The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. local time, according to a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden in January will join the tiny club of U.S. presidents to return power to their White House predecessor — with the one previous instance coming when President Benjamin Harrison handed back to Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.
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.”
Trump did not host Biden for a sit-down after the 2020 election.
Biden in January will join the tiny club of U.S. presidents to return power to their White House predecessor — with the one previous instance coming when president Benjamin Harrison handed back to Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.
The 78-year-old billionaire businessman won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office, and accusations from his former chief of staff that he is a “fascist.”
Exit polls showed that voters’ top concerns remained the economy and inflation, which spiked under Biden in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden, who dropped out of the race in July over concerns about his mental cognizance at the age of 81, called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him after his election win.
Democrats have been pointing fingers over who is to blame for Harris’ decisive loss, with Biden himself coming in for much of the blame.
As the Democrats weigh what went wrong, Trump has begun to assemble his second administration by naming campaign manager Susie Wiles to serve as his White House chief of staff.
She is the first woman to be named to the high-profile role and the Republican’s first appointment to his incoming administration.
