Biden, Trump to meet at White House on Wednesday

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will meet with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday after the U.S. leader pledged an orderly transfer of power back to the Republican he beat in elections just four years ago.

Trump -- who never conceded his 2020 loss -- sealed a historic comeback to the presidency in the November 5 vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of U.S. politics overshadowed by his hardline right-wing stance.

Biden will join the tiny club of U.S. presidents to return power to their White House predecessor -- with a previous instance coming when president Benjamin Harrison handed back to Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.

The Democrat will meet Trump at the Oval Office at 11 a.m., the White House said Saturday, with the clock ticking down to the ex-president's return to power in January.

The 78-year-old ex-reality TV star won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a "fascist."

Exit polls showed that voters' top concern remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Biden in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

Biden, who dropped out of the race in July over concerns about his ability to continue at the age of 81, called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him after his election win.

The Democratic leader urged Americans in a solemn televised address to "bring down the temperature," in stark contrast to Trump's refusal to accept his 2020 election defeat.

© 2024 AFP