Barack Obama and Donald Trump have met at the White House, with the president calling the 90-minute meeting "excellent" and the president-elect saying he looked forward to receiving the outgoing president's "counsel".
The pair discussed a range of domestic and foreign policy topics and Mr Obama said he will do everything he can to help the Republican succeed when he takes office on January 20th and urged that the country unite to face its challenges.
Mr Trump, elected on Tuesday, said he looked forward to more meetings with Mr Obama and said several matters were discussed, including difficulties.
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Afterwards, Mr Obama said to Mr Trump: “We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed the country succeeds.
“We talked about some of organisational issues in setting up the White House. We talked about foreign policy. We talked about domestic policy. And 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.
“ I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges we face.”
The two men, who have been harshly critical of each other for years, were meeting for the first time, Mr Trump said. The Republican said he looked forward “to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel”.
Mr Trump said “This was a meeting that was going to last maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we were just going to get to know each other. We had never met each other. I have great respect. The meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half and as far as I am concerned, it could have gone on a lot longer.
“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. He has explained some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved.
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”.
As the meeting concluded and journalists scrambled out of the Oval Office, Mr Obama smiled at his successor and explained the unfolding scene.
Mr Trump led the “birther” movement that questioned Mr Obama’s US citizenship and has pledged to overturn the Democrat‘s signature policy achievements after he takes office on January 20th.
Mr Obama campaigned vigorously for Mr Trump's Democratic rival, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and called Mr Trump both temperamentally unfit for the presidency and dangerously unprepared to have access to US nuclear codes.
First Lady
Michelle Obama and incoming first lady Melania Trump have spoken about the challenges of raising children in the White House.
Mrs Trump’s 10-year-old son Barron Trump will become a teenager during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that is “a rather unique childhood”.
He pointed out that Mrs Obama and president Barack
Obama also had the experience of raising children in the White House. Mrs Obama and Mrs Trump spoke about the experience of being a good parent under those unique circumstances, Mr Earnest said. The two women then walked to the Oval Office to visit the president and the president-elect, he said.
After an unexpected election win on Tuesday that stunned the world, Mr Trump spent Wednesday focusing on the transition during meetings with his staff at Trump Tower in New York.
While Democratic politicians in Washington were urging cooperation with the newly-elected president, anti-Trump demonstrations broke out in cities across the United States.
“Not my president,“ shouted hundreds in New York. Demonstrators sat down on a highway interchange in Los Angeles blocking traffic and 1,800 people in Chicago chanted “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA“ outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
Transfer of power
Republican Chris Christie, who is leading Mr Trump’s transition team, told NBC‘s Today program, “We heard a lot about the peaceful transfer of power during this election, and I think you‘ll see that symbolised today.”
During the campaign, Mr Trump hinted that he might not accept the result if he lost to Mrs Clinton.
Asked whether Mr Trump would apologise to the president for questioning his birthplace and legitimacy, the New Jersey governor, who could end up with a job in the Trump administration, said the controversy was just politics, adding: “They have a lot more important things to talk about.”
Upon taking office, Mr Trump will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of the US Congress that could help him implement his legislative agenda and scrap or roll back Obama policies that he dislikes, such as the Obamacare healthcare law, the nuclear deal with Iran and US participation in the Paris agreement to fight global warming.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Mr Obama would brief Trump about the benefits of those policies during their meeting.
Paul Ryan meeting
Later President-elect Mr Trump sai after a meeting with House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan that after his inauguration he will work very rapidly on issues like healthcare and immigration. Speaking in Mr Ryan’s office, Mr Trump told reporters: “We are going to lower taxes, as you know,” and added: “I think we are going to do some absolutely spectacular things for the American people.”
Mr Trump is also meeting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Mr Ryan and Mr Trump shared a strained relationship during the campaign, although they both ultimately said they supported each other. Mr McConnell also kept a distance from Mr Trump for most of the campaign.
Mr Trump and Mr Ryan will “discuss how they can hit the ground running in a Trump administration,” a Republican source said.
Mr Trump’s advisers are considering JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon for the post of Treasury Secretary, CNBC reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The White House has laid out its plan to ensure a smooth transition, including giving representatives selected by Mr Trump briefings on the work of US federal agencies.
Mr Trump and his senior aides will also start to receive daily briefings by US intelligence officials, the White House said. The Obama administration also plans two “interagency exercises“ for Trump’s team aimed at handling and responding “to major domestic incidents.“
Beginning to reach out to foreign leaders, Mr Trump held a telephone call with Theresa May, the British prime minister‘s office said on Thursday. The incoming US leader invited May to visit as soon as possible.
Trump aides were in touch with Russian government officials during the presidential campaign, Russian deputy foreign mnister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency on Thursday. And Russian president Vladimir Putin said he was ready to fully restore ties with Washington following tense relations with the Obama administration. During one presidential debate last month, Clinton called Trump a “puppet“ of Putin.
European Commission seeks clarity
Elsewhere European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has called for clarity from on issues in which Mr Trump's campaign remarks have rattled Europe, including s global trade, climate policy and future relations with Nato.
"We would like to know how things will proceed with global trade policy," Juncker said at a business event in Berlin.
“We would like to know what intentions he has regarding the (Nato) alliance. We must know what climate policies he intends to pursue. This must be cleared up in the next few months.”
Mr Juncker said he did not expect the trade deal between the United States and the European Union, currently being negotiated, to be finalised this year as previously planned.
“The trade deal with the United States, I do not view that as something that would happen in the next two years,” he said.
Meanwhile former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright has warned Trump against American isolationism, telling him the US must play its part in the Nato alliance.
“Nato is obviously key. We are responsible for each other, a two-way street,” Albright told the Guardian in an interview on Wednesday.
Mr Trump alarmed many in July when, at the Republican national convention where he accepted his party’s nomination, he implied that the US might not protect other members of Nato if they were not contributing enough to the military costs, and hinted he could withdraw
US forces from around the world. A cornerstone of Nato’s strength, and global security, is the pact that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
“The US must be involved abroad. If we are not engaged, then the system doesn’t work at all, or, even, a new system cannot be created,” she said.
Reuters/Guardian