President Barack Obama
welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House Thursday, as both men
put past antagonisms aside in a time-honored ritual epitomizing the peaceful
transfer of political power.
Three days after mocking Trump as unfit to control
the codes needed to launch nuclear weapons, Obama told his successor that he
wanted him to succeed and would do everything he could to ensure a smooth
transition.
Trump, who spent years
pursuing Obama over false claims he is not a natural-born American and accused him of
being the founder of ISIS on the campaign trail, called Obama a
"very good man" and said he would seek his counsel in future.
The extraordinary meeting was a reflection of
the swift and sudden change in the political mood between the frenzied last
days of an election campaign and the reality of government and the transition
of power between two administrations that follows.
"My No. 1 priority in the next two months
is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our President-elect is successful,"
Obama said.
Obama told Trump: "If you succeed, the
country succeeds," as the two men sat in high-backed chairs in front of
the fireplace in the Oval Office.
Trump thanked Obama for the meeting which he
said had originally been scheduled for 10 minutes and went on for 90.
"Mr. President, it was a great honor
being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more
times," Trump said, adding that he and Obama had spoken about some
wonderful and difficult things and "some high-flying assets."
It was not immediately clear what he meant.
The President-elect also said he would seek
"counsel" from Obama.
As the pool of reporters were led out, Trump
told them several times that Obama was "a very good man."
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