'Welcome back': Donald Trump returns to the White House to meet Joe Biden and begin transfer of power

Joe Biden’s first meeting with Donald Trump since his election defeat saw the two men sitting before a roaring fire in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Despite fears of an awkward encounter, the two men shook hands as President Biden said “welcome home” and “congratulations” to the man he succeeded in the White House.

Trump was wearing a red tie and Biden a maroon tie. They called each other by their first names.

“Wanna thank you for what you are doing today,” Mr Trump said. “Politics is a tough game… In many cases it’s not a nice world, but Joe and Jill Biden, it is a nice world today.”

Mr Biden replied: “Well Mr President-elect, Donald congratulations. I look forward to a smooth transition.”

Mr trump thanked him. “It will be as smooth as it can be and I very much appreciate that, Joe,” he said.

Mr Biden is preparing to hand over the keys to his office to the former president following Trump’s victory over him and Kamala Harris in the general election.

It is the first time the two men have met since the June 2020 presidential debate, where Biden said of Trump: “You have the morals of an alley cat.”

Trump fired back: “I’m not going to call him senile, he can’t pass senile. I mean, he’s so far gone!”

Trump’s plane touched down in Washington on Wednesday, where his convoy arrived at a military base near the US Capitol.

He then met with billionaire Elon Musk and Republican House leaders before travelling to the White House for his Oval Office session with the president.

Back in the US capital for the first time since his election victory, Trump told Republican leaders: “It’s nice to win.”

Trump, who had been staying at his golf resort in Palm Beach in Florida for the past two months, received a standing ovation from House Republicans.

Many of them filmed as he ran through the party’s victories up and down the ballot at the most recent midterm elections, which will be his final presidential race.

“I’m probably not going to run again unless you tell me ‘he’s good, we got to find out what’s wrong with him,’ and we’ve got to do something else,” he said to cheers and laughter.

Trump travelled without his wife Melania, who has not joined her husband since she tested positive for covid in early November.

“Melania would like to extend her warmest wishes to all those involved,” White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process has been encouraging. She wishes him great success in all his future endeavours.”

Grisham did not give a reason why she did not accept the Bidens’ joint invitation to meet with them at the White House on Wednesday.

Joe and Jill Biden invited the Trumps to come to the White House to meet the president before he travels around the country over Thanksgiving. Melania declined the Biden family invite, while Ivanka Trump accepted, a White House source said.

The spouses typically meet upstairs, in the residence of the White House, while the president and president-elect confer in the oval office.