--- title: President Obama and Donald Trump Meet at the White House description: The first step in a series of final steps that the President hopes will ensure a smooth transition of power canonical: https://time.com/4566234/barack-obama-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-10T16:38:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:08:42.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama and Trump Meet in Oval Office og:description: Part of the transition of power og:url: https://time.com/4566234/barack-obama-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc11b983549476927/6988ae16524fc02be5dfa35a/trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5094 og:image:height: 2865 og:image:alt: Donald Trump, Melania Turmp, Mitch McConnell og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama and Trump Meet in Oval Office twitter:description: Part of the transition of power twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc11b983549476927/6988ae16524fc02be5dfa35a/trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama and Donald Trump Meet in Oval Office > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8e57fe70-5d9e-4ec9-bc37-c7ad2482fc02&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch President Barack Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time [Watch (HLS stream): Watch President Barack Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zRemNoen.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2016-11-10. The meeting signals the beginning of the transition period during which Obama will help Trump, now the president-elect, prepare to take control of the country next year._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:08 PM UTCPublished: Nov 10, 2016 4:38 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:08 PM UTCPublished: Nov 10, 2016 4:38 PM UTC President Obama [met with President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4566273/donald-trump-barack-obama-white-house-meeting/) for 90 minutes at the White House on Thursday, a little over 36 hours after the nation delivered a stunning upset to the current president’s legacy. Everything about the meeting on Thursday morning spoke to the [shared tension between Trump and Obama](http://time.com/4564787/president-obama-congratulates-donald-trump-calls-for-peaceful-transition-of-power/). The President-elect ran on a platform of undoing the bulk of the current President’s policies. Obama spent past two weeks zigzagging across the country calling his now-successor [“uniquely unqualified” and “temperamentally unfit”](http://time.com/4490001/barack-obama-speech-pennsylvania-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/) for office. Obama told reporters that the two had an “excellent conversation,” touching on a wide range of organizational issues and foreign policy. He said that his top priority is facilitating a smooth transition. “I believe that it’s important for all of us regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together and deal with the many challenges that we face,” he said. Trump, meantime, said that he has “great respect” for Obama and spoke positively about the meeting. Although First Lady Michelle Obama and Melania Trump also met at the White House on Thursday, the two couples did not pose for a ceremonially photo as the Obamas did with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush after the 2008 election. Obama’s White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was seen walking near the Rose Garden with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and other Trump aides, including Dan Scavino. Since the beginning of the 2016 primary election President Obama has been touting the importance of ensuring a smooth transition of power no matter who is elected. During a postelection address in the White House Rose Garden, he called it “one of the hallmarks of our democracy.” According to the White House, the Administration has been planning for the transition since the beginning of the year — archiving records, “off-boarding” personnel, and preparing for the new Administration. And on Thursday the President took the first in a series of final steps, sitting down with Trump in the Oval Office. Trump and Obama weren’t the only two meeting on Thursday. Later in the day, Vice President Joe Biden will also meet with the U.S.’s next VP Mike Pence. Until the inauguration on January 20, the Administration will continue working with the Trump transition team to deliver regular briefings, including daily intelligence briefings that are meant to ensure the President-elect is up to speed on national-security matters on Day One. ## Transcript Well I just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with President Elect Trump. It was wide ranging, we talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up a white house, we talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy, and as I said last night My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our President- elect is successful. And I have been very encourage by the. I think interest in president elect Trump's wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces. And I believe that. It is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of legal preferences, to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges that we face. And in the meantime Michelle has had a chance to greet the incoming first lady. And we had an excellent conversation with her as well. And we wanna make sure that they feel welcome as they prepare to make this transition. Most of all, I wanna emphasize to you, as president elect, that we, now are gonna, wanna do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed then the country succeed. Well thank you very much president Obama. This was a meeting that was going to last for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and, we were just gonna get to know each other. We had never met each other. I have great respect. The meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half. And it could have as far as I'm concerned, it could have gone in for a lot longer. We really We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future including council. He explained some of the difficulties, some of the The high- flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved. So Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you, and I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future. Thank you [ INAUDIBLE ] Mr. President. [ CROSSTALK ] Thank you everybody, we are not going to be taking any more questions, thank you guys. Thank you. Here's a good rule. Don't answer their questions when their started yelling. It's always the last one. Come on guys. Yeah come on guys. Let's go. Very, very good man. Thank you Donald. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. 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