Melania Trump has not yet called president-elect Joe Biden’s wife Dr Jill Biden to congratulate the soon-to-be new First Lady or set up a meeting.
President Donald Trump continues to insist he was cheated out of the White House with unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud, with Mrs Trump following in his wake.
Appearing to repeat her husband’s disputed claims, the First Lady tweeted: “The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal – not illegal – vote should be counted.
“We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”
President-elect Biden has already begun work to ensemble a coronavirus task force as he looks to hit the ground running when he enters the Oval Office in January.
While Dr Biden is similarly assembling her own staff as she sets the agenda for the East Wing, which includes education, veterans and cancer.
“Dr Biden is enormously grateful to the country for electing her husband and Senator Harris,” her spokesman Michael LaRosa told the Daily Mail.
” Joe Biden will be a President for all Americans. She is spending time with her children and grandchildren in Wilmington, Delaware.
“Dr Biden is focused on building her team and developing her priorities focused on education, military families and veterans, and cancer.”
She intends to balance her duties as presidential spouse with her job as a teacher, a rare feat for a First Lady, the majority of whom have not held an outside job during their time in the White House.
Her late son Beau Biden served in Iraq, but it is unclear if Dr Biden will revive the Joining Forces initiative she formed with Michelle Obama which highlighted key areas of concern for military families.
It is expected Dr Biden will follow in the footsteps of Mrs Obama and George W. Bush’s wife Laura who had 25 staff at any one time working for them.
In comparison, Mrs Trump’s White House staff unusually only averaged around 10 at a time, and they worked on a number of initiatives, including Be Best.
Despite President Trump continually playing down the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Mrs Trump took the lead in ensuring her staff followed safety protocols.
With the President, First Lady and their teenage son Barron having all tested positive for Covid-19, Mrs Trump insisted East Wing staff work from home if possible and was said to be appalled by White House employees not wearing face masks.
It is tradition for the out-going President and First Lady to call their replacements soon after an election.
However, with Trump’s lawyers having filed a law suit in Pennsylvania and Attorney General William Barr having instructed prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations”, this is yet to happen.
The President or his camp has not come forward with any evidence for any kind of fraud, with Mr Barr emphasising prosecutors not chase “fanciful or far-fetched” claims in the probe.
It is unclear if the Trumps will host the Bidens at the White House, as President Barack Obama and Michelle did in November 2016.
The Mirror Online has contacted Melania Trump’s representative for comment.