WASHINGTON (AP) – According to two people familiar with the conversation, Vice President Mike Pence called his next successor, Kamala Harris, to congratulate him.
This is the first known contact between the elected members of the outgoing and incoming administrations. President Donald Trump did not reach President-elect Joe Biden and repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.
But Pence became an unexpected defender of Biden. The vice president resisted Trump’s pressure to object to the Democratic election, while presiding over last week’s congressional certification of the election count.
Pence will also attend the inauguration of Biden on January 20, which Trump refuses to attend.
One of the people familiar with the Thursday afternoon conversation described it as a ‘good call’, with Pence congratulating his successor and providing assistance. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.
The call came less than a week before Biden and Harris took office, and just over a week after the storms of Capitol supporters.
While Trump has largely remained behind closed doors since his loss, Pence has acted and fulfilled many of the presidency’s ceremonial duties, including greeting members of the National Guard who now protect the Capitol building on Thursday night.
The call for his successor is a continuation of the traditional rally between outgoing and incoming leaders that Trump opposed. In 2008, then-Vice President Dick Cheney called Biden to wish him the night of his victory, and he invited Biden and his wife Jill to visit the Vice Presidential residence on the grounds of the U.S. Navy, shortly before the inauguration in 2009.
It’s unclear whether Pence will do the same for Harris. Much of Washington is under security after the violent uprising at the Capitol last week, with law enforcement officials warning of more potential for violence ahead of Biden’s inauguration.
While Biden said he welcomed Trump’s decision to avoid his inauguration, he also said he would be “honored” to attend Pence, and that it is important to maintain as many “historical precedents” as possible. in respect of a peaceful transfer of power. .