Donald Trump Visits White House to Meet With President Biden, Melania Declines
White House Meeting Trump Visits Biden in Oval Office ... Melania Takes a Pass
President-elect Donald Trump visited the White House Wednesday morning at the invitation of President Joe Biden, and the 2 sat down together in the Oval Office. Trump thanked Biden for making this transition one of the smoothest ever, so far.
After they sat down, Trump and Biden smiled for the cameras -- and were hit with a cacophony of shouted questions directed at the pair. Secret Service and staffers then ushered the yelling reporters out of the Oval Office without having any of their questions answered.
The invitational meeting is traditionally held whenever a new POTUS is elected -- although Trump didn't extend an invite to Biden as he refused to accept the 2020 election results. Despite their prior war of words, Obama invited Trump in 2016, days after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
First Ladies usually meet at the same time, for tea -- but Melania Trump announced she would not attend Wednesday's event with Jill Biden.
Melania is a little spicy about it, pointing to the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago in 2022, blaming the Biden Administration for the bust. Classified documents were taken during that investigation, including boxes of files infamously found in a bathroom at the Trump resort. She said on "Fox & Friends" recently, "It made me angry."
Trump and Biden were expected to discuss the peaceful transfer of power in January ... an issue made more relevant after the events of January 6, 2021, when mobs of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Trump has already started making Cabinet appointments, and has announced a new entity called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to be headed by Elon Musk -- whose preferred cryptocurrency is called Dogecoin. Musk will share leadership duties of that office with businessman and Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris last week, taking the Electoral College and the popular vote -- he will have the backing of a Republican Senate, and the House of Representatives might remain in GOP control after final vote tallies are official.