--- title: President Obama Meets Donald Trump at the White House: Watch description: Donald Trump joined President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday for their first meeting ever canonical: https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-10T18:23:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:24:21.898Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch President Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time og:description: The president said they had "excellent conversation" og:url: https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c396c1c141baf19/6988ae062dce01098d9eb63d/trump-oval-office1.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch President Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time twitter:description: The president said they had "excellent conversation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c396c1c141baf19/6988ae062dce01098d9eb63d/trump-oval-office1.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch President Barack Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 10, 2016 6:23 PM UTC  President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10. President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 10, 2016 6:23 PM UTC Donald Trump joined President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday for their [first meeting](http://time.com/4566234/barack-obama-donald-trump/) ever. 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. Despite [years of tension](http://time.com/4564787/president-obama-congratulates-donald-trump-calls-for-peaceful-transition-of-power/) between Obama and Trump, the president told reporters he was “encouraged” by the meeting and that the two had an “excellent conversation.” “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 also spoke positively about the meeting and said he has “great respect” for Obama. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/"},"headline":"Watch President Barack Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time","datePublished":"2016-11-10T18:23:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:24:21.898Z","description":"The president said they had \"excellent conversation\"","url":"https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","President Barack Obama","Election 2016","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c396c1c141baf19/6988ae062dce01098d9eb63d/trump-oval-office1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c396c1c141baf19/6988ae062dce01098d9eb63d/trump-oval-office1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Trump","caption":"Obama Trump","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4566594/president-obama-donald-trump-meeting-white-house/","name":"Watch President Barack Obama Meet President-Elect Donald Trump for the First Time"}}]}] ```