President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone over the Thanksgiving holiday last week, according to two people familiar with the call.
The previously unreported phone 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 Nov. 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.
The president and first lady Jill Biden spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with close family, including their son, Hunter, and daughter, Ashley.
When asked by reporters last Friday whether he expected to speak with Trump again before the inauguration, Biden said: “I expect so.”
Biden’s invitation for Trump to visit the White House and Trump’s subsequent phone call are a departure from the last transition between administrations after the 2020 election.
Trump did not host Biden at the White House after his election defeat, defying the customary invitation.
The Trump administration also stalled the transition after Biden’s election victory four years ago, denying election results and scuttling efforts from Biden’s transition team to establish a smooth transfer of power.
Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021, becoming the first outgoing incumbent in 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing the week before the 2024 election that Biden would attend January’s inauguration regardless of the outcome, and White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates reiterated last week that Biden plans to attend the inauguration.
