WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump He returns to Washington triumphant.

Minister Joe Biden We will invite him to the White House for an Oval Office visit on Wednesday. the traditional part of the peaceful surrender of power — a ritual Trump refused to participate in four years ago.

Trump also planned to meet with Republicans in Congress. 1. priorities of the day and preparing for a potentially unified government GOP’s power move in the nation’s capital. His arrival during the Republican congressional leadership election could dominate the outcome.

It’s a stunning return to the seat of U.S. government for the former president, who left nearly four years ago as a diminished, politically defeated leader after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but is poised to return to power with the power he has. GOP allies see this as a mandate for the administration.

Before the visit, the Speaker of the Parliament mike johnson He said Republicans are ready to deliver on Trump’s “America First” agenda.

Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office after his election victory in 2016, calling it “a great honor.” But soon he started hurling insults at Obama; This includes accusing his predecessor – without any evidence. I listened to his phone During the 2016 campaign.

Four years later, Trump discussed his 2020 election defeat to Biden and continued: Lie about widespread voter fraud not occurring. The then-president-elect did not invite Biden to the White House and left Washington without attending. Biden’s inauguration. This was the first time since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration 155 years ago.

Biden insists he will do everything he can to ensure a smooth transition to the next Trump administration. This despite having campaigned for re-election for more than a year and denouncing Trump as a leader Threat to democracy and the core values ​​of the nation. Biden then withdrew from the race in July and endorsed the Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.

After the election, the president put aside his harsh warnings about Trump in his speech last week and said: “The American experiment continues. “We will be fine.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was “committed to ensuring that this transition is effective and efficient, and he’s doing it because it’s the norm, yes, but it’s also the right thing to do for the American people.”

“We want this to go well,” Jean-Pierre added. “We want this to be a process that gets the job done.”

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, echoed that sentiment, saying the administration would support “our country’s best tradition of transitioning from one responsible president to another.”

Wednesday’s visit is more than a courtesy call.

“They will be covering the most important issues in both domestic and foreign policy, including what’s going on in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,” Sullivan told CBS about Wednesday’s meeting. “And the President will have a chance to explain to President Trump how he sees things… and he will have a chance to talk to President Trump about how he intends to address these issues when he takes office.”

Traditionally, when outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the First Lady hosts her successor on the upper floor of the residence; however, Melania Trump is not expected to attend.

Trump also visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill after meeting with Obama in 2016 and will do the same on Wednesday. crowd of supporters He led a violent attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.

when trump left Washington By 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to condemn him for his role in helping incite the Capitol attack. But his victory in last week’s election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the undisputed leader of the GOP.

But this isn’t Trump’s first return to the Capitol district since the end of his first term. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump throughout the summer as he re-established his grip on the party.

Trump’s latest visit comes as Republicans are in the middle of their own impasse, having wrested the Senate majority from Democrats in last week’s elections and with the Republican Party on the verge of retaining control of the House of Representatives. leadership elections What happened behind closed doors on Wednesday.

The arrival of the next president will give new momentum johnsonwho has grown closer to Trump as he tries to protect his majority and his own job with the gavel.

The speaker said he expects to see Trump repeatedly throughout the week; this included an event later that evening and “all weekend” at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida.

It’s unclear whether Trump will also visit the Senate, which is embroiled in a more divisive closed-door leadership election. three way race He will replace outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump’s allies are pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a long-shot candidate challenging two senior Republicans for the job, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.

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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.