WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence has called his future successor Kamala Harris to congratulate him, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
It is the first known contact between the elected members of the outgoing and incoming 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 object to the Democrat’s electoral victory while chairing Congressional certification of the electoral vote last week.
Pence will also attend Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, which Trump declines to attend.
One of those familiar with the Thursday afternoon conversation described it as a “ good phone call, ” with Pence congratulating his successor and offering 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 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
While Trump has been largely behind closed doors since his loss, Pence has stepped up and fulfilled many of the presidency’s ceremonial duties, including greeting members of the National Guard who now protect the Capitol on Thursday night.
The call to his successor is a continuation of the traditional display of compassion between outgoing and incoming leaders that Trump, by contrast, has violated. In 2008, then Vice President Dick Cheney called Biden to congratulate him on the night of his victory, inviting Biden and his wife Jill on a tour of the vice presidential residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory, briefly for the 2009 inauguration.
It’s unclear whether Pence will do the same for Harris. Much of Washington is under heightened security following last week’s violent uprising in the Capitol, 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 ” if Pence were present, and that it was important to maintain a “ historical precedent ” regarding a peaceful transfer of power as much as possible. .