Trump, Obama vow to work together after 'excellent' hour-and-a-half conversation
President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump emerged from their meeting at the White House on Thursday with positive things to say about each other and the future of the country. Obama, in a brief presser after the hour-and-a-half-long meeting, said they had "an excellent" and "wide-ranging conversation" about "organizational issues" regarding White House logistics, as well as foreign and domestic policy.
"My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful," Obama said. "I have been very encouraged by the interest in President-elect Trump's wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces."
Trump said he had "great respect" for Obama and said the meeting could've "gone on for a lot longer." "We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful, and some difficulties," Trump said. He said he looked forward to "dealing with the president in the future," including looking to him for "counsel."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Pentagon unable to name boat strike casualtiesSpeed Read The Pentagon has so far acknowledged 14 strikes
-
41 political cartoons for October 2025Cartoons Editorial cartoonists take on Donald Trump, ICE, Stephen Miller, the government shutdown, a peace plan in the Middle East, Jeffrey Epstein, and more.
-
King Charles strips Andrew of ‘prince’ titleSpeed Read He will now be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations