Chronicle Editor
WASHINGTON. – First Lady Michelle Obama hosted future first lady Melania Trump for tea at her private residence at the White House, the White House said Thursday, as President Barack Obama also met face-to-face with his successor, President-elect Donald Trump.
The first lady and Melania Trump discussed the experience raising children at the White House and being good parents, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters later Thursday.
Michelle Obama also gave the future first lady a tour of the residence, including stepping out onto the Truman Balcony, and they had a tour with White House curator Bill Allman, Earnest said.
The two then walked to the Oval Office and met their husbands.
The meeting between the two women comes several months after Melania Trump was criticised after a chunk of her speech at the Republican National Convention appeared to have been lifted from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic convention. A speechwriter for Donald Trump’s business later took the blame.
President Obama and Trump met alone in the Oval Office for 90 minutes on Thursday. Obama said he wanted to make Trump and his family “feel welcome as we prepare to make this transition.”
For his part, Trump said he looked forward to working with Obama in the future.
“Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you, and I look forward being with you many, many more times,” Trump said.
President Obama has pledged that he and his team would work to ensure a peaceful transition of power after a bitter campaign and long history with the president-elect. Trump was a central figure in the creation of the “birther” movement, spending years questioning Obama’s place of birth and thus his legitimacy to be president. – NBC News
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Peter Tanyanyiwa