Joe Biden welcomes Donald Trump back to the White House after US presidential election
Donald Trump has promised a transition “as smooth as it can get” in a remarkable Oval Office meeting with Joe Biden, as the Republicans clinched a majority in the House of Representatives.
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Donald Trump has returned to the Oval Office for the first time in 1393 days, shaking hands with Joe Biden as he promised the transition would be “as smooth as it can get”.
The President congratulated the President-elect in a post-election tradition that was up-ended four years ago when Mr Trump refused to concede defeat to Mr Biden.
“Welcome back,” Mr Biden told his predecessor-turned-successor after his stunning election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re looking forward to having, like we said, a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated and have what you need. We’re going to get the chance to talk about some of that today.”
Ignoring shouting questions from reporters, Mr Trump replied: “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 will be so smooth – it will be as smooth as it can get,” he told Mr Biden.
Sitting in front of the fireplace in the Oval Office, the pair discussed issues including the war in Ukraine, moments after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly told his members he would not send any more military aid to America’s ally.
Mr Trump later told the New York Post that he asked Mr Biden for his views on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and that the President “gave them to me, he was very gracious”.
He said his transition team’s relationship with the Biden administration was “very, very good”, and that he and the President “both really enjoyed seeing each other”.
“You know, it’s been a long, it’s been a long slog,” Mr Trump said.
“It’s been a lot of work on both sides and he did a very good job with respect to campaigning and everything else. We really had a really good meeting.”
Meeting with Republican members of Congress, Mr Trump was triumphantly welcomed and hailed by Mr Johnson as “the comeback king”.
The President-elect joked to them: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘he’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out’.’”
The US constitution prevents a president from serving more than two terms, and Mr Trump will be only the second man in history to serve those terms non-consecutively.
It came as the Republican Party clinched a majority in the House of Representatives, giving the incoming president total control in Washington DC.
In his speech to his congressional colleagues, Mr Trump declared he was with Mr Johnson “all the way”, amid speculation that far-right rebels could seek to block his return to the speakership.
Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene – who led an unsuccessful move to oust him earlier this year – pushed Mr Johnson to promise an end to US support for Ukraine.
He agreed, according to The New York Times. The Biden administration has already vowed to send $US95bn in military aid to Ukraine before Mr Trump is inaugurated on January 20, delivering in full a package that was approved by Congress in April.
Mr Trump was not accompanied in his return to Washington DC by his wife Melania, who rejected an invitation from First Lady Jill Biden.
“Mrs Trump will not be attending today’s meeting at the White House,” her office said.
“Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”
Mrs Biden gave Mr Trump a handwritten letter to share with his wife, which a White House official said “expressed her team’s readiness to assist with the transition”.
But the world’s richest man Elon Musk did join Mr Trump in the nation’s capital, with the President-elect quipping to House Republicans that he could not get rid of him, a day after he appointed him to run his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Senate Republicans also elected a new leader for the first time since 2007, choosing South Dakota’s John Thune.
He was backed by his colleagues over Texas’s John Cornyn and Florida’s Rick Scott, who was heavily backed by surrogates for Mr Trump even though the President-elect did not weigh in on the race.
FRENCH MAN MAKES $85M BETTING ON TRUMP
A French citizen has made $85 million in a series of wagers on Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market that was a popular platform for betting on the US election won by Donald Trump, a blockchain analysis firm told AFP.
Last month, Polymarket said a French bettor had in fact wagered a large sum on Trump winning the November 5 election.
Chainanalysis, an American blockchain analysis firm, said it had done cross-checking and identified 11 Polymarket accounts with similar characteristics.
This gambler, known only as Theo, bet a total of $70 million on Trump winning the election over Kamala Harris.
After the election was called, he got it all back and $85 million in winnings.
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Originally published as Joe Biden welcomes Donald Trump back to the White House after US presidential election