President Joe Biden will welcome President-elect Donald Trump to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power — a ritual Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.
Meanwhile, House control remains in the balance with a dozen races left to be called.
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Here’s the latest:
The vice president is spending the morning in meetings at her official residence, according to a person with knowledge of her schedule.
If she does show up later — either at the White House or the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where most of her staff works — it likely wouldn’t be until after Trump leaves.
— Chris Megerian
Tom Emmer of Minnesota says he’s expecting Trump to talk to House Republicans about how to “restart America’s economy by unleashing American energy,” sealing the southern border and removing immigrants who entered illegally under President Biden.
“I expect him to give a great message today, more like a locker room speech getting everybody ready for what’s coming in January,” Emmer said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
Billionaire Elon Musk will join Trump in Washington, according to a Trump aide.
The SpaceX owner, who Trump just named to a government efficiency advisory role in the new administration, is not currently expected to be at Trump’s meeting with Biden at the White House.
Musk will join Trump’s earlier meeting with House Republicans before he and Biden meet in the Oval Office. He’s been a steady presence at Trump’s side since the election.
It was Biden’s poor performance at that debate that led Democrats to start pressuring him to drop out and let another candidate take on Trump.
Biden pulled the plug on his campaign weeks later and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. She lost to Trump in last week’s election.
President-elect Donald Trump is on his way to Washington to meet with Republican congressional leaders on Capitol Hill and President Joe Biden at the White House.
Trump’s plane took off from the airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, around 7:30 a.m. ET for the roughly two-hour flight to the U.S. capital.
A meeting between the incoming and outgoing president is tradition but then-President Trump didn’t invite Biden to the White House after he lost to the Democrat in 2020.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says it was important to Biden to invite Trump because he believes in the “norms” and a peaceful transfer of power.
Republican senators will gather behind closed doors Wednesday to decide who will replace longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell and lead their new majority next year — a decision that could shape the future of the Senate, and the party, as Donald Trump reclaims the presidency.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have been scrambling to win the most votes in the secret ballot election, promising a new direction in the Senate even as they furiously compete for Trump’s favor. It will be the first test of Trump’s relationship with Congress after he won the election decisively and claimed a mandate for his agenda.
It’s uncertain who will win.
▶ Read more about the GOP’s decision
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