Washington DC - President-elect Donald Trump traveled to the nation's Capitol on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden as the two begin the peaceful transfer of power.

Ahead of the private portion of their meeting, the two men shook hands in the Oval Office, surrounded by reporters.

"Well Mr. President-elect, former president, Donald, congratulations, and looking forward to, like we said, a smooth transition," Biden told Trump.

"Politics is tough, and it's, in many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today," the Republican responded.

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"And I appreciate it very much," he added. "A transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that, Joe."

Neither of the politicians took questions afterward.

Biden had sent his invitation to Trump over the weekend, as a meeting between the outgoing and incoming candidates has been a customary gesture of a peaceful transition of power.

Back in 2020, after Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election, Trump infamously refused to hold the same meeting for Biden, as he insisted, without evidence, that the election was "stolen" from him.

Trump's wife, Melania, had turned down a customary meeting for tea with first lady Jill Biden, with one source claiming she snubbed the meeting over the FBI raid of the her family's Mar-a-Lago estate.