During a luncheon in Washington, D.C. this afternoon, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton crossed paths for the first time since Election Day.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended a luncheon at the National Statuary Hall on Friday afternoon immediately following the swearing-in ceremony. Members of Congress were there for the lunch, as was Hillary Clinton, and the two former rivals shared a brief moment before the event began. Clinton was seated at a table across from Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary.
President Trump can be seen saying to Secretary Clinton, “Thank you for being here.”
About an hour later, while the president was delivering brief remarks, he again thanked Bill and Hillary Clinton and asked them to stand up so they could be applauded.
“And honestly, there’s nothing more I can say, because I heave a lot of respect for those two people,” Trump said.
Clinton attended the inauguration of Donald Trump alongside her husband, Bill Clinton. The former presidential candidate’s presence at the ceremony is especially noteworthy considering the fact that dozens of Democratic members of Congress chose to skip the inauguration in order to protest Trump.
Some of Hillary Clinton’s own supporters were angered by the fact that she went to the inauguration; she took to Twitter earlier today to say that she was going in order to honor democracy.
President Trump did not mention Hillary Clinton during his inauguration speech.