US President Joe Biden greeted Donald Trump at the White House saying “welcome back”, as the two political rivals met for the first time since a fiery debate in June.

Mr Biden and Mr Trump were seen exchanging pleasantries as they sat side by side in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office today, in a meeting aimed at ensuring the smooth transfer of power from one leader to another.

It is the first time the president-elect has visited the White House since he left the Oval Office after being defeated by Mr Biden in the 2020 election.

“Donald, congratulations,” Mr Biden said, greeting Mr Trump with a handshake and adding that he looked “forward to a smooth transition”.

“Welcome, welcome back,” the president said.

Trump-Biden latest: Follow US election fallout live

The president-elect thanked Mr Biden for the invitation and for a peaceful transition of power saying it will be “as smooth as it can get”.

Mr Trump added: “Politics is tough, and it’s many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today, and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth it’ll be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that, Joe.”

The last time Mr Trump and Mr Biden met in person was for the presidential debate on 27 June, when the Democrat’s gaffes cost him his candidacy.

Mr Biden dropped out a few weeks later in July, endorsing vice president Kamala Harris to run in the presidential race instead.

First lady Jill Biden also made an appearance at the meeting, greeting the president-elect as he arrived at the White House and giving him a “handwritten letter of congratulations” for his wife, Melania Trump, a statement from her office said.

The letter also “expressed her team’s readiness to assist with the transition”.

The incoming first lady was invited to meet Dr Biden, but reportedly declined the invitation.

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The meeting follows the longstanding tradition of outgoing presidents meeting their successors to discuss a smooth transition from one administration to the other.

However, Republican Mr Trump failed to give the same opportunity to Mr Biden in 2020 as he refused to accept his defeat against his Democratic rival.

Today’s nearly two-hour meeting between Mr Biden and the president-elect saw them discuss foreign affairs, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and the safe release of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas during the militant group’s 7 October attack on southern Israel last year.

Mr Biden stressed the importance of supporting Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s full-scale invasion, the White House said, amid concerns that Mr Trump would follow through with threats to cut US aid to Kyiv.

The White House said Mr Biden’s team is open to working with Mr Trump’s on securing the release of Israeli hostages, which, along with a ceasefire in Gaza, has been the focus of negotiations between Israel and Hamas and their mediators.

It also said the Biden administration had secured extra commitments from Israel in the past couple of days over the situation in Gaza, where a 13-month war has caused the death of more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.

Mr Trump, who previously won the keys to the White House when running against Hillary Clinton in 2016, will be sworn in as president on 20 January following his decisive election win against Ms Harris last week.

Sky News’ US partner network NBC News has projected the Republicans have retained control of the House of Representatives.

It means all levers of power in Washington are now under Mr Trump and his party’s control, having also secured the Senate.

They will also be backed by a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by the president-elect.

Earlier today, Mr Trump met with billionaire Elon Musk earlier today before he celebrated his victory with Republicans in the House of Representatives.

“Isn’t it nice to win? It’s nice to win. It’s always nice to win,” Mr Trump said. “The House did very well.”

Mr Trump received a standing ovation from House Republicans, many of whom took videos of him as he ran through their party’s victories up and down the ballot, in what would be his final presidential election.

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say ‘he’s good, we’ve got to figure something out’,” Mr Trump said to laughter.

A video showing a “white orb” UFO coming out of the ocean off Kuwait has been found on the US Department of Defense’s own network, a congressional hearing has heard.

Giving evidence to House representatives on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), the now-preferred term for UFOs, journalist Michael Shellenberger said he had been told of the footage by a source in recent weeks.

As it happened: Latest updates from the hearing

Mr Shellenberger, the founder of the Public news service, said the 13-minute-long high-definition, colour video was of the “orb” 20 miles off the Kuwait coast and was filmed from a helicopter.

“Then, halfway through the video, the person said, the orb is joined by another orb that briefly comes into the frame from the left before rapidly moving again out of the frame.”

He said the source discovered the video on SIPR, the Secure Internet Protocol Router Network that the Department of Defense “uses to transmit classified information”.

One particularly eye-catching moment saw representative Nancy Mace, who served as the hearing’s co-chair, bring out a 12-page document purporting to detail a classified UAP crash-retrieval programme known as Immaculate Constellation.

‘Come at me bro, I guess’

The report had been delivered to Congress by Mr Shellenberger who told the hearing a whistleblower, who is a current or former US government official, wrote the report that said “the executive branch has been managing UAP issues without congressional knowledge, oversight, or authorisation for some time, possibly decades”.

After entering the document into the Congressional record, Ms Mace said she had been warned that referencing the programme’s name in a public setting would land her “on a list”, to which she said: “Come at me bro, I guess.”

The hearing was named “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth”, and is part of a committee’s ongoing efforts to provide more information about what the government knows or does not know about UAPs.

The House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation was told that objects, including those observed performing at more than 3,000Gs, have been spotted over US military and energy sites.

The representatives heard the objects could travel faster underwater than US submarines and could withstand massive force.

‘We are not alone in the cosmos’

Luis Elizondo, a former defence department official, was asked whether these objects could be controlled via a “mind-body connection”, to which he answered they were clearly being “intelligently controlled”.

“The vehicles we’re talking about… are performing in excess of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000Gs,” he said, adding that they react to human movement and are incredibly manoeuvrable.

“We are talking about technologies that outperform anything in our [military] inventory,” he said.

Mr Elizondo also said there was “definitely enough data” to suggest that there is “some sort of relationship” between UAPs and “sensitive US military installations, also some of our nuclear equities and also some of our department of energy sites”.

He later clarified this could be because the UAPs, or whoever or whatever is operating them, are particularly interested in gaining information about the sites, or it could simply be because there is increased visibility in such sensitive areas that more are spotted.

Mr Elizondo said “excessive secrecy” has led to “grave misdeeds… to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos”.

We are “in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race  - one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies,” Mr Elizondo stated during his testimony.

Read more from Sky News:
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Members also heard that the US had recovered crashed UAPs for the purpose of understanding how to reverse-engineer them, but witnesses said they could not elaborate further.

Last year, the House Oversight Committee also looked into UFOs, with at least one witness claiming a Pentagon cover-up – something the department denied.

In November 2023, NASA announced it was taking “concrete action” to explore the potential threat of UFOs following the release of a landmark report into the phenomena.

A 33-page report had found that NASA should play a larger role in detecting such phenomena.

US President Joe Biden has welcomed Donald Trump for a meeting at the White House aimed at ensuring the smooth transition of power from one leader to another.

It is the first time the president-elect has visited the White House since he left the Oval Office after being defeated by Mr Biden in the 2020 election.

Mr Biden and Mr Trump were seen exchanging pleasantries as they sat side by side in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office.

“Donald, congratulations,” Mr Biden said, greeting Mr Trump with a handshake and adding that he looked “forward to a smooth transition.”

Trump-Biden latest: Follow US election fallout live

The president-elect thanked Mr Biden for the invitation and for a peaceful transition of power saying it will be “as smooth as it can get”.

Mr Trump added: “Politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today and I appreciate it very much.”

First lady Jill Biden also made an appearance at the meeting, greeting the president-elect as he arrived at the White House and giving him a “handwritten letter of congratulations” for his wife, Melania Trump, a statement from her office said.

The letter also “expressed her team’s readiness to assist with the transition”.

The incoming first lady was invited to meet Mrs Biden, but reportedly declined the invitation.

Read more:
Farage brings up Trump at PMQs
Trump’s hawkish cabinet picks signal tough stance on China

The meeting follows the longstanding tradition of outgoing presidents meeting their successors to discuss a smooth transition from one administration to the other.

However, Republican Mr Trump failed to give the same opportunity to Mr Biden in 2020 as he refused to accept his defeat against his Democratic rival.

Mr Trump, who previously won the keys to the White House when running against Hillary Clinton in 2016, will be sworn in as president in January following his decisive election win against vice president Kamala Harris last week.

The last time Mr Trump and Mr Biden met in person was for the presidential debate on 27 June, when the Democrat’s gaffes cost him his candidacy. Mr Biden dropped out a few weeks later in July, endorsing Ms Harris to run in the presidential race instead.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

Mr Trump met with billionaire Elon Musk earlier today before he celebrated his victory with Republicans in the House of Representatives who have a good chance of maintaining control of the chamber as election results continue to trickle in.

“Isn’t it nice to win? It’s nice to win. It’s always nice to win,” Mr Trump said. “The House did very well.”

Mr Trump received a standing ovation from House Republicans, many of whom took videos of him as he ran through their party’s victories up and down the ballot, in what would be his final presidential election.

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say ‘he’s good, we’ve got to figure something out’,” Mr Trump said to laughter.