WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration kept the team of the incoming president, Donald Trump, well informed about its efforts in negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which went into effect early Wednesday, according to the outgoing administration.
However, Trump's team wasted no time in celebrating the achievement and taking credit for the good news, which has been extremely unusual for a Democratic government that has been deeply affected by the prolonged conflict in the Middle East.
"Everyone is coming to the table thanks to President Trump," said Florida representative Mike Waltz, appointed by Trump as a national security advisor, in a post on the social media platform X just before the Israeli cabinet approved the agreement. "His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos will not be tolerated. I am glad to see concrete steps being taken towards de-escalation in the Middle East."
The coordination between the Biden administration and the Trump team in their efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon is perhaps the clearest example of cooperation in what has been a sometimes turbulent transition period.
On Tuesday, Trump's transition team reached a necessary agreement with the White House that will facilitate coordination between the transition team and existing federal workers before Trump assumes the presidency on January 20. There has been some high-level coordination between both teams, including some conversations between Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and Waltz.
In a statement from the White House garden, Biden celebrated the ceasefire agreement on Tuesday as a crucial step that he hoped could be the catalyst for a broader peace in the Middle East, a region that has been shaken by almost 14 months of conflict since the Hamas armed attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
"This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," Biden said. "It will not be allowed, and I want to emphasize, it will not be allowed, for what remains of Hezbollah to threaten Israel's security again."
Now, White House officials are hopeful that a calm in Lebanon could reignite a multinational effort to find an end to the devastating conflict in Gaza, where Hamas still holds dozens of hostages in what has become an even more intractable conflict.
Biden said that the United States, as well as Israel, will participate in the scheduled talks in the coming days with officials from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey to try to resume negotiations around the conflict in Gaza.
But during Biden's moment of success in a conflict that has damaged his reputation both nationally and internationally, the shadow of the upcoming Trump administration loomed.
The Biden administration kept the high-level national security team from the Trump administration informed during the negotiations, according to a senior federal official. The official, who briefed reporters on a call organized by the White House on the condition of anonymity, added that the incoming administration officials were not directly involved in the talks, but it was important for them to know "what we were negotiating and what the commitments were."
Trump's team and allies, meanwhile, said there is no doubt that the prospect of the Republican's return to power motivated both parties to reach the agreement.
Waltz, in addition to giving credit to Trump for the ceasefire agreement, added a warning to Iran, the main financial supporter of Hezbollah.
"But let's be clear: The regime of Iran is the root cause of the chaos and terror that has been unleashed in the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism," said Waltz in his statement.