The Washington Post reported that First Lady Jill Biden declined an invitation to tea from incoming First Lady Melania Trump.
Jill Biden has reportedly been invited to tea at the White House, as is customary for incoming and outgoing first ladies during a presidential transition.
But Melania Trump declined, according to the Post, which published a lengthy profile of the outgoing first lady on Wednesday.
Jill Biden left a note to Melania Trump in an interview conducted on January 5, and mentioned that she handed this note to President-elect Trump when she met him at the reopening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral in December.
“I congratulated her and offered to help,” Jill Biden said of the note, according to the Post.
Jill Biden didn’t hear back from the incoming first lady until last week, when Melania Trump thanked the first lady at the late President Carter’s state funeral.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
The customary White House tea isn’t the only tradition the first ladies are skipping during this transition.
Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend Trump’s inauguration next week. She also did not attend Carter’s state funeral, where she should have sat next to the president-elect, citing “scheduling conflicts.”
At the state funeral, former wife Karen Pence drew attention as she sat down as President Trump approached her. Her husband, former Vice President Mike Pence, shook hands with the president-elect.
