Iona Hampson
Reporting from the White House

As Biden and Trump meet inside the White House, we join dozens of journalists reporting from outside the West Wing, where the smell of burning firewood (pictured inside the Oval Office) drifts through the air.

I overheard one reporter say to another "just think about it as a normal day".

There's always key moments on days like this to get the right shots and be in the right place.

This is a historic day, but to calm the nerves, journalists are trying to see this as just another sunny Tuesday in the nation's capital.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from White House

Image source, Reuters

The White House pool has just been ushered out of the Oval Office where Trump and Biden are meeting.

We're still getting quotes from inside, but, as we just reported, we do know that Trump said that "politics is tough".

"And in many cases it's not a nice world," he added. "But it's a nice world today."

Trump also thanked Biden for a smooth transition, to which Biden said "you're welcome".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Trump and Biden are now seated in the Oval Office of the White House.

President-elect Trump has told Biden that politics is "tough" before thanking him for an anticipated smooth transition.

"I appreciate very much a transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get," Trump says.

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump is at the White House for his meeting with President Biden.

The two will gather in the Oval Office to privately discuss the transition of power and other topics.

We will bring you more lines from their meeting as we get them.

Brandon Drenon
Reporting from Washington DC

Donald Trump's White House visit today - on President Joe Biden's invitation - is a return to tradition that was eschewed in 2020, when Trump was the outgoing president and Biden was the president-elect.

At the time, Trump did not accept that he lost that election, making false claims of election fraud - a position which he still maintains.

Trump broke with tradition and did not invite Biden to the White House to meet during that transition period.

Rather, on the day that Biden's victory was to be certified in Congress, Trump held a rally where he told his supporters to "fight like hell" ahead of the riot at the Capitol. He then skipped Biden's inauguration ceremony in January 2021, in another break from the norm.

Four years later, Biden has invited Trump for an Oval Office meeting in a return to tradition, saying he is committed to "a peaceful transfer of power", despite the two presidents' often harsh words towards each other.

Donald Trump has left his meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington and is now headed toward the White House, approximately a 10- to 15-minute drive.

He is expected to meet with Joe Biden soon.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, BBC / Bernd Debusmann Jr

In the two years or so I have been coming to the White House regularly, today is by far the busiest I've ever seen it.

I was just meeting a friend for breakfast and a coffee about a block away, and decided to follow a long string of unfamiliar reporters carrying gear to the White House.

Aside from those journalists, there were very few signs anything unusual was happening here today, with the exception of a group of four or five people in red Maga hats in Lafayette Square nearby.

When I got to the White House security checkpoint, there was a small crowd of reporters - mostly from foreign news outlets - in a queue to get in, some visibly anxious about how long it was taking. Most aren't regulars, and without a coveted "hard pass" to get in, they had to make appointments to be escorted by press staffers.

On the grounds of the White House, dozens of cameras have been set up on the driveway near the West Wing in the hopes that Donald Trump will come out and address the media after his meeting with President Biden later this morning.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Capitol Hill

The answer is yes.

We’ve reported that Vice-President-elect JD Vance, who currently represents Ohio in the US Congress's upper chamber, has attended today's Senate leadership election with his fellow Republican lawmakers.

Vance is eligible to cast a secret ballot in the election given he currently holds a Senate seat, which he was elected to in 2022. His term technically ends in 2029: he will be considered a member of the 119th Congress - briefly - before being sworn in as vice-president on Inauguration Day in January.

It was unclear if he would attend the vote up until his arrival this morning.

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has received a standing ovation from his Republican colleagues in Washington this morning.

The president-elect began his remarks by saying: "It's nice to win. It's always nice to win."

He then went into further detail about his "historic" victory, adding that he won the popular vote by 7.1 million and also won all seven battleground states. In fact, he currently has a lead of just over 3 million votes with more to be counted.

Press cameras were then asked to leave the room, as the president-elect continued speaking.

President-elect Donald Trump is now speaking at the Hyatt Regency in Washington where he is addressing House Republicans ahead of his meeting with President Joe Biden.

The pair will meet at the White House at 11:00 EST (16:00 GMT).

Stay with us as we bring you the key lines from his speech.

One of the figures not present when Donald Trump descended down the steps of his private jet this morning was his wife - Melania.

We're now hearing official confirmation that she will not be visiting the White House with her husband today.

"Mrs. Trump will not be attending today’s meeting at the White House. Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success," the incoming first lady's office says in a post on X.

It adds that "several unnamed sources in the media continue to provide false, misleading, and inaccurate information", without elaborating further.

President-elect Donald Trump has just descended the steps of his private jet - dubbed Trump Force One - in Washington DC.

Trump is expected to make two stops today, first visiting with Republicans on Capitol Hill and then meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House at approximately 11:00 EST (16:00 GMT).

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Capitol Hill

I’m now standing as close as they’re letting reporters get to the Old Senate chamber where the vote for Senate majority leader is being held.

We’ve seen several Republican lawmakers enter the chamber — including Vice-President elect JD Vance, who is a sitting senator and will be able to vote in the election.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Today is the much-anticipated Senate leadership election that will determine who serves as the Republican Senate leader when the 119th Congress begins in January.

It's the first time in nearly two decades Republican senators have chosen a new party leader.

The three-way race includes South Dakota Senator John Thune, Texas Senator John Cornyn and Florida Senator Rick Scott.

Lawmakers are just arriving at the Capitol to cast their secret ballots and pick a winner.

Here's a few things what you can expect:

• The election will begin with nominating speeches for the three candidates
• A candidate needs a simple majority - 27 votes - to win
• If no candidate receives the majority of votes in the first round, the candidate with the lowest vote gets dropped from the ballot. A second round will then be held between the two remaining candidates

Image source, Reuters

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump was also invited to the White House, where President-elect Donald Trump is set to meet President Joe Biden today.

It's tradition for the current first lady to host her successor for tea at the White House when their husbands meet.

Melania is not expected to sit down with First Lady Jill Biden today, according to BBC's US partner CBS News. It's unclear if she will show up.

In 2016, Melania attended a meeting with former first lady Michelle Obama, after Trump won the presidential race against Hilary Clinton.

We can now bring you footage of President-elect Donald Trump boarding a plane heading for Washington, DC as he prepares to meet with President Joe Biden.

The meeting is a long-standing tradition signifying the transfer of power as the government changes hands.

Image source, Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump was seen departing his Florida residence in a motorcade on Wednesday morning as he begins his trip to the White House.

He was invited there by President Joe Biden who has said he's committed to the "peaceful transfer of power". The meeting is a longstanding US tradition and used as a way to begin the transfer of government.

Before arriving to the White House, Trump will visit Congress, where Senators will be casting a secret ballot to decide who will take the helm of Senate Republican leadership.

Republicans flipped control of the Senate this election and appear poised to win the House too, giving them complete control of the most powerful levers in Washington.

Image source, Reuters

US Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to resign, external before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, external in January, The New York Times and NBC News report.

Trump said last month that he would fire Smith from his post if he was re-elected. Smith brought two federal criminal cases against the Republican.

The first case involves the alleged mishandling of classified documents after Trump left the White House, charges he denies.

The second concerns his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Smith filed criminal charges against Trump last year, but the case has been in limbo after a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Smith's office was looking into ways to wind down the investigations into Trump, part of the US Justice Department's policy that sitting presidents cannot be criminally charged.

US President Joe Biden has invited President-elect Donald Trump to the White House on Tuesday as part of a long-standing tradition that shows a peaceful transition of power between administrations.

It's the first time both men will meet since their presidential debate in late June, before Biden stepped down from the campaign.

On Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the White House will spend its remaining $6bn (£4.6bn) of funding for Ukraine before Donald Trump's presidential inauguration in January.

The BBC's Sarah Smith looks at the significance of the meeting and when we can expect when the two come together.

Can Elon Musk cut $2tn from US budget?published at 12:42 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November

12:42 GMT 13 November

By Ben Chu

In the most recent fiscal year (from October 2023 to September 2024) the US federal government spent $6.75tn (£5.3tn), according to, external the US Treasury.

Elon Musk suggested in October at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City he would cut “at least $2tn” out of that total.

Around $880bn - 13% - of total US government spending goes on interest payments on the national debt, which means that line of expenditure could not be reduced without putting the US government in default.

Around $1.46 trillion, or 22%, of spending goes to Social Security, which primarily includes pensions for Americans over the retirement age. This is a line of spending which is “mandatory”, meaning it must be spent by law on those eligible.

Other large mandatory lines of government expenditure include Medicare - a government-funded health insurance programme primarily serving Americans over 65.

So-called “discretionary” US government spending - outlays which are not enshrined in law - includes defence ($874bn), transportation ($137bn) and education, training, employment and social services ($305bn) and accounts, external for around a quarter of the total according to the Congressional Budget Office.