Barack Obama and Donald Trump put aside differences to ensure smooth transition
Barack Obama and Donald Trump got the presidential transition ball rolling this afternoon by holding an "excellent" meeting.
Chewing the fat in the Oval Office, both men put past differences to one side and afterwards smiled for the cameras in what appeared to be a very cordial event.
The get-together is likely to be the first of many to ensure a smooth transition of the Republican candidate into the White House. Trump said afterwards that he was looking forward "to dealing with the president in the future including counsel."
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Obama returned to the conciliatory rhetoric of his speech outside the White House in the aftermath of fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton's defeat. "We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed the country succeeds," he told reporters.
Trump is expected to try and roll back on many of the Obama policies that have been put in place during his eight years in power. Meanwhile, during the election campaign, Obama was outspoken in saying that he didn't think that Trump was to be in America's commander-in-chief.
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The Republican President-elect did not hide from attacking the media during the election campaign. And although he struck a more pacifying tone in his acceptance speech, according to reports by Associated Press, he broke with protocol by taking his own private jet to the visit Obama, rather than travelling in a motorcade flanked by the press.