Jill Biden (left) and Melania Trump.Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty; SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
While it is customary for an outgoing first lady to welcome her predecessor for a tea-and-tour of the White House,Melania Trumphas not reached out to Dr.Jill Bidenat all, according to Biden’s daughter, Ashley, who sat with Jenna Bush Hager for aninterviewthat aired Tuesday onToday.
“Has your mom heard fromMelania Trumpabout doing the traditional protocols?” Hager asked Ashley.
“No. I don’t think they’re doing the traditional protocol. Which is unfortunate, but I think we’re all okay with it,” Ashley responded.
(A spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump did not respond to questions from PEOPLE about this.)
Both PresidentDonald Trumpand his wife have shunned the customs that are traditional of an outgoing first couple.
Two weeks ago, during a “Stop the Steal” rally to coincide with the counting of the Electoral College votes, Trump encouraged his supporters to march on a joint session of Congress in a scene that eventually turned into a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In late November, Trump’s administration didbegin assistingthe president-elect’s White House transition team after weeks of delay, though the president himself made clear he had no plans to meet with Biden.
Earlier this month, Trump 74,tweeted that he would not be attending Biden’s swearing-in ceremonyon Wednesday.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” wrote the president, who will take his final flight aboard Air Force One prior to the inaugural ceremonies, andhead to his club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Last year, Mrs. Obama recalled her own handoff of the first lady duties to Mrs. Trump in 2016, writing in a lengthy Instagram caption that America’s leaders need “to honor the electoral process and do [their] part to encourage a smooth transition of power.”
As she explained on Instagram then, the outgoing administration invited the incoming Trump staffers into the White House with “detailed memos” that offered “what we’d learned over the past eight years.”
Mrs. Obama also invitedMelania Trumpto the White House, to discuss the transition and offer advice about what life would soon be like.
“I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me,” Mrs. Obama wrote on Instagram. “Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger. That wasn’t something I was ready to forgive. But I knew that, for the sake of our country, I had to find the strength and maturity to put my anger aside.”
Despite the obvious challenges associated with setting her differences aside, given the years the Trumps had spent spreading the conspiracy theory that President Obama wasn’t born in America — Mrs. Obama wrote that welcoming them to the White House, in person, was the “right thing to do.”
“Our love of country requires us to respect the results of an election even when we don’t like them or wish it had gone differently—the presidency doesn’t belong to any one individual or any one party,” she added.
source: people.com
