WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence has called on his future successor Kamala Harris to give his congratulations, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
It is the first known contact between elected members of incoming and outgoing administrations. President Donald Trump has not contacted President-elect Joe Biden and has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.
But Pence has become an unexpected defender of Biden. The vice president resisted pressure from Trump to oppose the Democrat election victory while presiding over congressional certification of the vote count last week.
Pence will also attend Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, 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 offering help. 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 assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
While Trump has largely remained behind closed doors smoking since his loss, Pence has been intensifying and fulfilling many of the presidential ceremonial duties, including the salute of National Guard members who now protect the building. of the Capitol Thursday evening.
The call for his successor is a continuation of the traditional display of sympathy between outgoing and incoming leaders that Trump, on the other hand, has ignored. In 2008, then-Vice President Dick Cheney called Biden to wish him congratulations on the night of his victory and invited Biden and his wife Jill to tour the vice-presidential residence on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory shortly. before the inauguration of 2009.
It’s unclear if Pence will do the same with Harris. Much of Washington is under greater security after last week’s violent uprising at the Capitol, with police officers warning there would be 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 have Pence attend and that it was important to maintain the “historic precedent” for a transfer. peaceful power as much as possible. .