Biden said he told Trump not to ‘settle scores’ during transition meeting
President Biden said he told President-elect Trump not to try to settle scores in their first meeting to start the presidential transition process after Trump’s victory.
“I was very straightforward with Trump when he got elected. I invited him immediately to the White House," Biden said, referring to their Nov. 13 meeting, an interview with USA Today’s Susan Page. "I spent two hours with him."
“I tried to make it clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” the president added.
Biden said he didn’t get a straight answer from Trump about the settling scores idea.
“He didn’t say, ‘No, I'm going to...’ You know. He didn’t reinforce it," the president told Page. "He just basically listened."
He also recalled that president-elect Trump praised him, especially on his work on the economy.
“He was very complimentary about some of the economic things I had done,” the president said, referring to Trump, adding, “he thought I was leaving with a good record.”
Trump on Monday said Biden was making the presidential transition difficult, citing recent executive orders on climate and other official acts the administration has taken in his last weeks as president.
Biden had announced, just two weeks before Trump is sworn in, that he would block new drilling off the entire East Coast, as well as California, Oregon and Washington state, and block some drilling off Alaska’s coast in portions of the Northern Bering Sea and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Trump vowed to undo Biden’s orders after he promised to promote domestic energy production on the campaign trail.
Despite the president-elect's assertion that Biden’s White House has not been helpful during the transition, his incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles has said otherwise. She told Axios in an interview published Monday that the White House has been helpful during the transition process.
Wiles praised Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients for his assistance, saying he “helped us navigate the labyrinth that is the Executive Office of the President” and has “been very professional.”
Wiles and Zients were also in the White House meeting between Biden and Trump.