Biden, Trump to meet at White House for transition talks after Harris defeat

President-elect Donald Trump returned to Washington on Wednesday for the first time since winning last week's election to meet fellow Republicans in Congress and President Joe Biden at the White House.

Trump arrived at Joint Base Andrews aboard his self-styled "Trump Force One" plane.

He celebrated his victory with Republicans in the House of Representatives, who have a good chance of maintaining control of the chamber as the November 5 election results trickle in.

"Isn't it nice to win? It's nice to win. It's always nice to win," Trump said. "The House did very well."

Biden, who initially ran against Trump in the 2024 election before stepping aside and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, will welcome the former and future president into the Oval Office, a traditional courtesy by outgoing presidents that Trump, a Republican, did not extend when Biden won in 2020.

"He believes in the norms, he believes in our institution, he believes in the peaceful transfer of power," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said of Biden's decision to invite Trump. She spoke at a briefing for reporters on Tuesday.

Elon Musk to join Trump

Biden and Trump have sharply criticized each other for years, and their respective teams hold vastly different positions on policies from climate change to Russia to trade. Biden, 81, has portrayed Trump as a threat to democracy, while Trump, 78, has portrayed Biden as incompetent.

The two presidents were expected to meet at 11 a.m. ET (1600 GMT). Trump made false claims of widespread fraud after losing the 2020 election to Biden.

Outside the White House gates, signs of the impending power transfer were evident, with construction already underway for the stands for VIP guests to sit during the parade that will take place after Trump is inaugurated on January 20.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was expected to join Trump at the meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans in the US House of Representatives, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Although Biden intends to use the meeting to show continuity, the transition itself is partially stalled.

Trump's team has already announced that some members of the incoming president's cabinet have yet to sign agreements that would lead to office space and government equipment as well as access to government officials, facilities, and information, according to the White House.

"The Trump-Vance transition lawyers continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris Administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act," said Brian Vance, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, referring to the law that governs the transfer of power.

Valerie Smith Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transition, a non-profit that advises incoming administrations, said the agreement underscores that the United States only has one president at a time and includes pledges to sign ethics pacts not to profit off information provided in the transition.

"That needs to be signed for interaction to begin with federal agencies," she said. "Everything is hinging on that."

Meetings with federal agencies aside, Biden and Trump will likely discuss a myriad of topics, including foreign policy.

The outgoing president may urge Trump to back Ukraine in its war with Russia. US support for Kyiv is in question following Trump's victory over Harris last week, and Trump has pledged to end the war quickly without explaining how.

Jean-Pierre declined to outline discussion points between the two men ahead of their meeting.

The meeting will be the first since the two men's debate in June. Biden's poor performance then heightened concerns about his age among fellow Democrats and led to his departure from the race. Harris became the Democratic nominee instead, running a truncated campaign that ended in her loss.