Here’s the tea: It’s a no from former and future first lady Melania Trump.
The Bidens invited the Trumps to the White House a day after President-elect Donald Trump won his decisive victory last week over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump took up President Joe Biden’s offer and the rivals were set to meet in the White House at 11 a.m. Wednesday. But Melania Trump did not make her intentions known publicly until hours before the two presidents were scheduled to sit down for a civil confab after a brutal campaign.
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For Melania, it’s a pass.
“Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success,” Melania Trump’s office said in a statement on X.
“Former First lady Mrs. Trump will not be attending today’s meeting at the White House,” the statement said.
The statement went on to criticize media using “unnamed sources” to provide “false, misleading, and inaccurate information.”
More:Will she or won’t she? Unclear if Melania Trump will have tea with Jill Biden.
“Be discerning with your source of news,” it went on to say.
It has been a century-old custom for the first lady to host tea with her successor. In 2016, Michelle Obama hosted “a tea and a tour” with Melania Trump in the Yellow Oval Room, located in the White House residence.
The Trumps did not host the Bidens in the White House after Joe Biden won the presidency in 2020, nor did they attend Biden’s inauguration following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s false claims the election was stolen.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
Source: politics.einnews.com…
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