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President-elect Donald Trump meets with President Obama at the White House

PRESIDENT Obama has greeted his successor, Donald Trump, at the White House today in order to facilitate a “successful transition” between presidencies.

The two men met in the Oval Office midmorning Thursday for 90 minutes, an historic encounter between rivals that was unforeseen just two days ago.

Breaking tradition, Mr Trump’s private plane landed at around 10:30am local time without a pool of reporters and photographers by his side. It is his first visit to Washington, D.C as the President-elect.

US President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON
US President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONSource:AFP

As the first images of the private discussion emerge, President Obama referred to it as an “excellent” meeting, saying he was “encouraged” by their conversation.

“I’ve just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with President-elect Trump,” he told reporters during a presser afterwards.

“It was wideranging, we talked about some of the organisational issues with setting up a White House, we talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy.

“As I said last night, my number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our President-elect is successful,” Obama said.

“I have been very encouraged by the interest in President-elect Trump’s wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces and I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless or party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges that we face.”

President Obama added that he and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, “want to make sure that they feel welcome as they prepare to make this transition.”

Speaking directly to Mr Trump, President Obama ended by saying that his primary concern is “to do everything we can to help you to succeed, because if you succeed then the country succeeds.”

President-elect Donald Trump said he has “great respect” for President Obama after their White House meeting. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON
President-elect Donald Trump said he has “great respect” for President Obama after their White House meeting. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONSource:AFP

 

President-elect Trump said it was “a great honour” to meet with President Obama, adding that it was the first time the men had met in person.

“This was a meeting that was going to last for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we were just going to get to know each other, we had never met each other,” Mr Trump told reporters.

“I have great respect, the meeting lasted for almost an hour-and-a-half and it could have gone on for a lot longer.”

He added: “We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including council, to explain some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved.

He wrapped up the presser by saying, “So, Mr President, it was a great honour being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future.”

The pair then shook hands, without taking any questions from the media.

US President Barack Obama shakes hands as he meets with Republican President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON
US President Barack Obama shakes hands as he meets with Republican President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONSource:AFP

 

The First Lady Michelle Obama and future first lady Melania Trump met separately for tea in the White House residence — offering the Trumps their first tour of what will soon become their new home. Both discussions were closed press.

During the first-time meeting between the Slovenian former model and Mrs Obama, the women spoke about what it’s like to raise children at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and be good parents, White House spokesman Josh Earnest later told reporters.

The Trumps’ youngest son, Barron, is 10.

The meeting comes amid rampant speculation over what type of First Lady Melania Trump will be. Michelle Obama has proved so popular many hope she will run for office herself in 2020. She has championed causes close to her heart like childhood obesity, education for young women and planted a vegetable garden at the White House.

By contrast, Melania Trump, who has posed naked for GQ before, remains relatively unknown. She is the third wife of Donald Trump who arrived in New York in 1996. They married in 2005 in a Palm Beach wedding and their son, Barron, was born in 2006.

A crowd gathers outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington as they wait for the arrival of President-elect Donald Trump for his meeting with President Barack Obama. Picture: AP Photo/Susan Walsh
A crowd gathers outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington as they wait for the arrival of President-elect Donald Trump for his meeting with President Barack Obama. Picture: AP Photo/Susan WalshSource:AP

 

 
White House staffers stand on the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as they await the arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump. Picture: AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB
White House staffers stand on the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as they await the arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump. Picture: AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSource:AFP

The meeting comes after President Obama made a public appeal for a smooth handover on Wednesday, expressing his hope the country unifies behind his newly-elected successor.

“We are now all rooting for success in uniting and leading the country,” Obama said in the brief statement, despite the vast policy differences between the pair.

“The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy and we’re going to show that to the world,” he said, adding that the presidency is bigger than any one person.

Top advisers to President Obama have spent months preparing for a transition, a complex task condensed into the 72-day period between now and the inauguration on January 20.

Donald Trump flanked by members of his family after winning the US presidency. Picture: AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARY
Donald Trump flanked by members of his family after winning the US presidency. Picture: AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARYSource:AFP

It was predicted to be an awkward meeting. As recently as last week, President Obama referred to Mr Trump as “uniquely unqualified to be president”. Speaking to university students at a Florida campaign rally for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, he said, “Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief.”

Throughout his campaign, Mr Trump has also promised to dismantle some of Obama’s key policies.

A video of Obama roasting the New York billionaire at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner back in 2011 is also doing the rounds on the internet. In his speech, the first-term President mocked Trump for the “birther” movement that claimed Obama was not born in America and joked about the tough decisions he was forced to make on Celebrity Apprentice.

But during Wednesday’s press briefing, Press secretary Josh Earnest denied speculation that the meeting would be difficult, given their harsh criticisms of each other on the campaign trail.

“No, to be blunt. The president is quite sincere about fulfilling the basic responsibility that he has to the American people and our democracy to ensure a smooth transition to the next presidency,” Mr Earnest said.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy meeting, but the president is deeply sincere about fulfilling this responsibility,” he said.

During her emotional concession speech, a defeated Ms Clinton told her supporters that Mr Trump had to be given a “chance to lead”.

In his victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday, Mr Trump vowed to “bind the wounds of division” and to be “president for all Americans”.

President-elect Donald Trump during his speech at the Hilton Midtown in New York on November 8. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

President-elect Donald Trump during his speech at the Hilton Midtown in New York on November 8. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSONSource:AFP

After his Oval Office meeting, President-elect Trump will head to Capitol Hill to meet with another key player in his emerging presidency, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. Vice President-elect Mike Pence is travelling with Mr Trump will also attend the session to discuss how they can hit the ground running in a Trump administration.

Source: News Corp Australia Network:

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