US President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met yesterday for the first time, setting aside the deep rancour that dominated the long campaign season as they discussed the transition to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Their 90-minute meeting in the White House Oval Office, with no aides present, took place just two days after Trump’s stunning defeat of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Obama, who vigorously campaigned for his fellow Democrat to succeed him, had repeatedly called Trump unfit for the president’s office, while the Republican candidate had often denounced Obama’s tenure as a “disaster.”
But in separate post-election remarks on Wednesday both men appeared to seek to help the country heal from a bitterly divisive campaign season, and that tone continued into the White House meeting yesterday.
Seated next to Obama after their talks, Trump told reporters: “We really discussed a lot of situations, some wonderful, some difficulties.” He said Obama explained “some of the great things that have been achieved,” but did not elaborate.
“It was a great honour being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future,” Trump said, with a tone of deference.
After Trump left the White House and travelled to Capitol Hill for meetings with Republican congressional leaders, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, “The meeting might have been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected.”
Meanwhile, a US judge yesterday tentatively rejected a bid by Trump to keep a wide range of statements from the presidential campaign out of an upcoming fraud trial over his Trump University venture.
The ruling came in advance of a pretrial hearing later yesterday where lawyers for the president-elect will square off against students who claim they were lured by false promises to pay up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors.
Trump owned 92% of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, the students’ court papers say.
The president-elect denies the allegations and has argued that he relied on others to manage the business.
Trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.