Biden, Trump to meet at White House ahead of historic return

Joe Biden will meet with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday after the US leader pledged an orderly transfer of power back to the Republican he beat in elections just four years ago.

Trump -- who never conceded his 2020 loss -- sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the November 5 vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics dominated by his hardline right-wing stance, BSS reports.

This type of meeting between the outgoing and incoming presidents was considered customary, but Trump did not invite Biden for one after making unsubstantiated election fraud claims that culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Trump also broke with precedent by skipping Biden's inauguration, but the White House has said the Democratic president will attend the upcoming ceremony.

Biden's meeting with Trump will take place in the Oval Office, the White House said Saturday, with the clock ticking down to the ex-president's return to power.

Trump, the 78-year-old ex-reality TV star, won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a "fascist."

Exit polls showed that voters' top concerns remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Biden in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The 81-year-old president, who dropped out of the White House race in July over concerns about his age, health and mental acuity, called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on the election win.