WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama promised Wednesday to work for a “smooth transition” of power to President-elect Donald Trump when he leaves office in January, citing the example set by former President George W. Bush eight years ago.
“I had a chance to talk to President-elect Trump last night at 3:30 in the morning to congratulate him on winning the election and invited him to the White House tomorrow to talk about making sure there is a successful transition between our two presidencies,” Obama said from the White House Rose Garden with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.
US President Barack Obama (R) together with Vice President Joe Biden (L) addresses, for the first time publicly, the shock election of Donald Trump as his successor, on November 9, 2016 at the White House in Washington, D.C. Throughout the two-year-long election campaign, Obama has repeated a mantra that he will do all he can to ensure the peaceful transition of power. (PHOTO: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Obama campaigned hard against Trump to boost his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who conceded the race in a speech earlier Wednesday morning.
“It is no secret that the President-elect and I have some pretty significant differences,” Obama said, adding later, that “we all want what’s best for this country.”
Obama, who publicly called Trump “unfit” for the Oval Office, campaigned aggressively for Hillary Clinton in the weeks leading up to Election Day to keep the former reality show star from being his successor.
“The choice you face when you step into that voting booth could not be more clear or could not be more serious,” Obama said in Philadelphia on Monday.
