Just over a week after his landslide election victory, former President and future President Trump returned to the White House on Wednesday.
President Trump will return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time in nearly four years at the invitation of President Biden, who rejected him from the 2024 White House race.
The White House said both presidents will take their seats in the Oval Office around 11 a.m. Eastern time.
For Biden, his dismal performance in the debate against Trump has reignited questions about whether the 81-year-old president will be physically and mentally fit to serve in the White House for another four years, and increased calls for him to do so.1 This is because he ended his bid for re-election a few months later in July. If he withdraws from the race, meetings with his predecessor and potential successor could be awkward.
Loyalty matters: President Trump chooses allies and supporters for second term in office
President Biden and former President Trump during a debate in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump spent years verbally watering down Biden and his performance in the White House. And even after Biden ended his re-election bid, Trump continued to criticize Vice President Harris, who has put the president and his successor at the top of the Democratic 2024 ticket.
Here are the Democrats who could run for the White House in 2028
And Mr. Biden has spent the past few years labeling Mr. Trump as a threat to the country's democracy.
But Biden, a traditionalist, wants to ensure a smooth transition between administrations.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough, and Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, on November 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“I have committed to directing the entire administration to work with his team,” the president said when he extended the invitation to last week’s post-election phone call with President Trump.
Vance is the frontrunner, but who else could be running for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination?
Mr. Trump's team has apparently changed its tune toward Mr. Biden, saying the president-elect is “looking forward to our meeting.”
Biden offered Trump a visit to the White House, an invitation he himself never accepted.
donald trump (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
Four years ago, after losing the election to Biden, Trump refused to concede and unsuccessfully tried to overturn the result.
Breaking with longstanding tradition, Trump did not invite Biden to the White House. Then, on January 6, 2021, two weeks after the riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aimed at overturning Congress' certification of Biden's electoral victory, Trump announced his successor's inauguration. He left Washington ahead of his departure, becoming the first sitting president in several years. A century to skip the inauguration of a successor.
“President Biden's decision to welcome President-elect Trump to the White House is a tribute to the normalcy of the presidential transition process. What was denied to Joe Biden after his election has been restored to Biden's reputation. It's happening,” veteran political scientist Wayne L'Esperance told Fox News. .
L'Esperance, president of the New England University in New Hampshire, said Biden's invitation was “a remarkable gesture by the nation's leading Democratic Party to legitimize Trump's return to power and, hopefully, bring order to the national system.” “It will be met with a commitment to a certain transition.” future. “
The meeting will be the first between Biden and Trump since they faced off in their only debate in Atlanta on June 27. The two presidents, along with Harris and Trump's running mate and current vice president, Sen. They stood side by side at the ceremony. attack
This will be the second time Trump has met with the outgoing president at the White House.
Eight years ago, after defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Trump met with President Obama at the White House as he finished his second term.
“We want to do everything we can to help you succeed right now, because when you succeed, the country succeeds,” President Obama told Trump at the time. .
Click to get the FOX News app
Although it is tradition, there is no requirement for a meeting between the incoming and outgoing presidents.
Big question mark heading into the meeting: Will the vice president attend any of the Biden-Trump rallies?
Harris called Trump last week to congratulate him on his victory over her.
The last time a sitting vice president lost a presidential bid was 24 years ago, when then-Vice President Al Gore narrowly lost to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush.
In the end, Mr. Gore joined Mr. Bush and outgoing President Clinton in the Oval Office, and what is said to have been an extremely awkward meeting.
