Mrs. Trump declined the invitation for the traditional meeting between the current and future presidential spouses.

Trump took up President Joe Biden's offer and the rivals were set to meet in the White House at 11 a.m. Wednesday. But Melania Trump did not make her intentions known publicly until hours before the two presidents were scheduled to sit down for a civil confab after a brutal campaign.

The last time Donald Trump was in the Oval Office, he scrawled out a two-page letter to Joe Biden in his distinctive jagged penmanship, slipped it into the drawer of the Resolute Desk and — notwithstanding the note’s surprisingly gracious tone — walked away from the building defeated and bitter.