Biden says Trump praised him when the two met at the White House after Trump’s victory
President Biden said President-elect Trump was “complimentary” about some of his economic policies when the two met in The Oval Office to promise a smooth transition after the election.
“I was very direct with Trump when he was elected,” Biden said in an exit interview USA Today. “I immediately invited him to the White House. I spent two hours with him. He talked about some economic things I had done, he was very complimentary.”
Trump and Biden met in the Oval Office in November after Trump won the election, reviving a presidential tradition which was skipped in 2020.
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President Biden said President-elect Trump “complimented” him on some of his economic policies when the two met in the Oval Office to discuss the transition. (Bryan Snyder/Reuters/ Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Biden said Trump told him he was “leaving with a good record” as president. Biden also recounted telling Trump that it would be “counterintuitive to his interest to go back and try to settle the score.”
When asked if Trump revealed what he would do as president in the pardon conversation, Biden said Trump has been mostly silent on the issue.
Biden defended the pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, in the interviewsaying he “paid all the taxes”. Biden also said it was excessive to jail Hunter on gun charges.
Hunter Biden was found guilty in 2024 of making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a gun, making a false statement in connection with the information he is required to keep federal arms dealerand possession of a weapon by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
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In an interview with USA Today, Biden defended the pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, saying that his son “paid all the taxes.” (Jack Gruber-USA TODAY)
“But the point was, no one was ever tried for that. No one,” Biden said. “And they potentially put him in jail for X years for that. He had it for 10 days. Two days in his possession.”
“And that’s why I jumped in,” Biden said.
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Asked for comment, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that the president-elect won because of Biden’s “disastrous policies.”
“The fact is that Joe Biden’s disastrous policies have led to record inflation and an economy that has left all Americans behind,” he said. “That’s why President Trump was elected with a historic mandate to continue the massively successful economic policies of the first Trump administration that have benefited all Americans.”
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Emma Colton and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
