First Lady Dr. Jill Biden broke her silence on a viral interaction with President-elect Donald Trump at the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last month in an interview with the Washington Post's Kara Voght published on Wednesday (January 15).

Biden said she and Trump were left to themselves after French First Lady Brigitte Macron, who was sitting between them, got up during the ceremony, at which point they were seen smiling and chatting.

The first lady said Trump told her, “I had a good meeting with your husband in the Oval Office,” Trump said, referencing their White House transition period meeting following his 2024 election victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Yes, because you’re both talkers," she replied.

Trump later used a photo of himself chatting with the first lady to announce his new fragrance line on his Truth Social account with the caption, "a fragrance your enemies can't resist!"

Voght asked Biden why she spoke to Trump despite him not giving her husband the same transition period courtesy after the 2020 election, as well as the president referring to the former president as an "existential threat" to democracy.

“Joe and I respect our institutions, our traditions,” Jill replied. “And it’s very important to me that they continue and we — what would be the point of nastiness?”

Notre Dame Cathedral reopened in December for the first time since a massive fire on April 15, 2019.

Michael Berry