WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President-elect is making a victor's return to Washington.
President will welcome him to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a 鈥� a ritual that Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.
Trump also planned to meet with Republicans from Congress as they focus on his and prepare for a potentially unified government with a in the nation's capital. His arrival amid Republican congressional leadership elections could put his imprint on the outcome.
It's a stunning return to the U.S. seat of government for the former president, who departed nearly four years ago a diminished, politically defeated leader after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol but is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.
Ahead of the visit, House Speaker said that Republicans are 鈥渞eady to deliver鈥� on Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥� agenda.
After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it 鈥渁 great honor." But he soon was back to heaping insults on Obama, including accusing his predecessor 鈥� without evidence 鈥� of having during the 2016 campaign.
Four years later, Trump disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, and he has continued to about . He didn't invite Biden, then the president-elect, to the White House and he left Washington without attending It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant's swearing-in 155 years ago.
Biden insists that he'll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That's despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a Biden then in July and endorsed Vice President to succeed him.
In the wake of the election, the president has abandoned his dire warnings about Trump, saying in a speech last week, 鈥淭he American experiment endures. We鈥檙e going to be okay.鈥�
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is committed to 鈥渕aking sure that this transition is effective, efficient and he's doing that because it is the norm, yes, but also the right thing to do for the American people.鈥�
鈥淲e want this to go well," Jean-Pierre added. "We want this to be a process that gets the job done."
Biden鈥檚 national security adviser Jake Sullivan echoed that sentiment, saying the administration will uphold the 鈥渞esponsible handoff from one president to the next, which is in the best tradition of our country.鈥�
Wednesday's visit is more than just a courtesy call.
鈥淭hey will go through the top issues 鈥� both domestic and foreign policy issues 鈥� including what is happening in Europe and Asia and the Middle East,鈥� Sullivan told CBS of Wednesday鈥檚 meeting. 鈥淎nd the president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things ... and talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these issues when he takes office.鈥�
Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence 鈥� but Melania Trump isn鈥檛 expected to attend.
After his 2016 meeting with Obama, Trump also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and will be doing the same Wednesday 鈥� not far from where a staged a violent January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol to try and stop the certification of Biden's election victory.
When Trump in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry him for his role in helping incite the Capitol attack. But his win in last week's election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.
It's not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.
His latest visit comes as Republicans, who wrested the Senate majority from Democrats in last week's elections and are on the cusp of keeping GOP control of the House, are in the midst of their own happening behind closed doors Wednesday.
The president-elect's arrival will provide another boost to , who has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority 鈥� and his own job with the gavel.
The speaker said he expects to see Trump repeatedly throughout the week, including at an event later that evening, and at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida 鈥渁ll weekend."
It's unclear whether Trump will also visit the Senate, which is entangled in a more divisive closed-door leadership election in the to replace outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.
Trump's allies are pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who had been a longshot candidate challenging two more senior Republicans, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, for the job.
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
Will Weissert And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press
