WASHINGTON, Nov 13, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Donald Trump will make a triumphant
return to the White House to meet President Joe Biden Wednesday, in the
Republican's first visit since departing amid a cloud of scandal nearly four
years ago.

Trump's meeting with Biden comes as he moves swiftly to name his top team,
including the world's richest man Elon Musk as head of a new group aimed at
slashing government waste.

Democrat Biden invited his sworn rival to meet in the Oval Office -- despite
the fact that Trump, who has consistently refused to admit his 2020 election
loss, never afforded Biden the same courtesy.

Biden, 81, is expected to urge a smooth transition of power in the encounter
at 11:00 am (1600 GMT) -- and push for continued support for Ukraine.

"He believes in the norms. He believes in our institutions," White House
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday when asked why Biden was
inviting Trump.

"The American people deserve this. They deserve a peaceful transfer of
power."

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Biden would go over top
foreign policy issues when he meets Trump -- including US support for Kyiv
against Russia, which Trump has criticized.

"The president will have the chance to explain to President Trump how he sees
things, where they stand, and talk to President Trump about how President
Trump is thinking," Sullivan told CBS on Sunday.

But the meeting may be a bitter pill to swallow for Biden, who branded Trump
a threat to democracy and was vying for the presidency against him until a
disastrous debate performance forced the Democrat out of the race in July.

House speaker Mike Johnson said Trump may also visit the US Capitol -- the
building a mob of his supporters stormed in 2021 to try to reverse his
election loss -- but these plans have not been finalized.

Trump's party looks set to take both chambers of Congress and consolidate his
extraordinary comeback.

- Tradition restored -

Biden's Oval Office invitation restores a presidential transition tradition
that Trump tore up when he lost the 2020 election, refusing to sit down with
Biden or even attend the inauguration.

Then-president Barack Obama had welcomed Trump to the White House when the
tycoon won the 2016 election.

But by the time Trump took his last Marine One flight from the White House
lawn on January 20, 2021, he had also been repudiated by many in his own
party for having encouraged the Capitol riot.

The period of disgrace soon evaporated, however, as Republicans returned to
Trump's side, recognizing his unique electoral power at the head of his
right-wing movement.

Trump, 78, enters his second term with a near total grip on his party and the
Democrats in disarray.

He has spent the week since the election at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida
assembling his top team, as the world watches to see how closely he sticks to
his pledges of isolationism, mass deportations and sweeping tariffs.

Trump named Space X, Tesla and X boss Musk, and another stalwart ally,
businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead a "Department of Government Efficiency
('DOGE')" -- a tongue-in-cheek reference to an internet meme and
cryptocurrency.

In a flurry of announcements, Trump also picked Fox News host and military
veteran Pete Hegseth as his incoming defense secretary. Hegseth has been an
outspoken opponent of so-called "woke" ideology in the armed forces.

Trump further named South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem -- an ally who famously
wrote about shooting her dog because it did not respond to training -- as
head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is tipped for secretary of state, US media
reported, while Trump has also confirmed Congressman Mike Waltz, a former
special forces officer, as his national security advisor.

Both have hawkish views on China but are not considered isolationists,
despite Trump's previous threats to retreat from or cut obligations to
alliances like NATO.