President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone last week over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to two people familiar with the call.
The previously unreported call marks the only known time Biden and Trump have spoken since the president-elect visited the White House for a meeting in the Oval Office on November 13.
The two people familiar with the conversation said Trump called Biden to wish him a happy Thanksgiving. They said the conversation between the two leaders was brief and not substantive.
President and first lady Jill Biden spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with immediate family, including their son Hunter and daughter Ashley.
Asked by reporters last Friday whether he expected to speak to Trump again before the inauguration, Biden said: “I expect so.”
Biden’s invitation to Trump to visit the White House and Trump’s subsequent phone call are a departure from the latest transition between administrations after the 2020 election.
Trump did not receive Biden at the White House after his election defeat, defying the usual invitation.
The Trump administration also halted the transition after Biden’s election victory four years ago, denying the election results and scuttling Biden’s transition team’s efforts to broker a smooth transition of power.
Trump did not attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration, becoming the first outgoing incumbent president in 150 years not to attend his successor’s swearing-in. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference the week before the 2024 election that Biden would attend the January inauguration regardless of the outcome, and White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates reiterated previous week that Biden plans to attend the ceremony.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
