TRANSITION BEGINS: Trump, Obama meet in the Oval Office
WASHINGTON — For months, President Barack Obama said that Donald Trump was unqualified, temperamentally unfit and a threat to the republic who should never be president.
For years, Trump questioned Obama’s birthplace and legitimacy, branded the nation’s first black president weak and called his tenure a disaster.
On Thursday at the White House, the onceunimaginable
happened: The two men met face to face for the first time for a 90-minute discussion in the Oval Office and shook hands, making a public show of putting their bitter differences aside.
“I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country suc-
ceeds,” Obama told Trump after the meeting as the two sat side by side two days after Trump’s stunning election upset imperiled Obama’s legacy. The president called the conversation “excellent” and said he had been “encouraged” by Trump’s interest in working with him and his team.
Trump, who appeared nervous and uncharacteristically subdued sitting beside Obama, called the president “a good man.” He said that the meeting was “a great honor” and that their conversation had lasted far longer than he would have expected.
“I have great respect,” Trump said, turning to face Obama. “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 counsel.” Given that Trump has never held elective office or served in government, some administration aides suggest that Obama could play a larger-thanusual role in acquainting Trump with the demands of the office.
“The meeting might’ve been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary.
Aides said that the two men discussed foreign and domestic policy issues that Trump would need to deal with on Day One in the Oval Office. As early as Friday, the president-elect will get a version of the President’s Daily
Brief, a classified compilation of all threats facing the United States and other highly significant intelligence information.
The Oval Office meeting was the centerpiece of a marathon day in the capital for Trump, his first since winning the presidency. His wife, Melania, had tea with Michelle Obama in the White House residence and took in the view of the Washington Monument from the Truman Balcony. White House aides said the two women talked about raising children in the White House.
“We want to make sure that
they feel welcome as they prepare to make this transition,” Barack Obama said of the Trumps.
Later on Capitol Hill, after meeting with Republican congressional leaders who will hold sway over enacting his agenda, Trump strode with Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the House speaker, to a balcony overlooking the platform on the west side of the Capitol where he will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017, peering out to the National Mall below.
“Really, really beautiful,” he said of the view.
After a meeting in Ryan’s office in the Capitol, Trump said that he was excited to begin carrying out an agenda to address immigration, health care and tax cuts.
“We’re going to do some absolutely spectacular things for the American people,” Trump said. “We’re going to lower taxes, as you know, we’re going to fix health care and make it more affordable and better. We’re going to do a real job for the public.”
Trump also met for about an hour with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.
“We are looking at jobs,” Trump told reporters as he left. “Big-league jobs.”
The meetings unfolded as members of Obama’s staff were starting the business of handing over the vast bureaucracy of the federal government to Trump’s staff. Speculation swirled over possible appointments in the Trump administration, with Stephen Bannon, the conservative provocateur and Trump’s campaign chief, and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, being mentioned as possible picks for chief of staff.
Top advisers to Obama have spent months preparing for the transition, a complex venture condensed into the 72 days before the inauguration. It is up to them and the Trump team to set it in motion, pairing Obama administration staff members with representatives of the president-elect for crash courses in the workings of the White House and agencies.
Obama said he had instructed his staff to follow the example set by President George W. Bush in 2008 and provide a professional and smooth transition for Trump’s team, despite the policy differences that separate the president and his successor.
But the crush of information may be onerous, particularly when it comes to Trump’s task of hiring 4,000 political appointees over a matter of weeks.
Saddled with an antiquated personnel system when Obama was elected in 2008, his aides moved this year to build a new one designed to make it easier to track the positions, as well as the applicants and their personal and professional information.