Trump returns to Washington flanked by Elon Musk, gets standing ovation from GOP

President-elect Donald Trump was greeted with a standing ovation from House Republicans at his first stop back in Washington on Wednesday.

"It's nice to win," Trump said as he took the stage at the conference's internal meeting at the Hyatt Regency near the Capitol.

Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews for the first time since leaving office in January 2021 flanked by billionaire Elon Musk, a sign of some of the new faces that may dominate Trump's orbit in his second term. Musk was in the audience listening as Trump addressed the GOP conference.

Ahead of the president-elect's arrival, House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated him as the "comeback king."

Trump smiled and shook Johnson's hand and other top GOP brass on stage, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been named as Trump's U.S ambassador to the United Nations.

The meeting comes as Republicans inch closer to a majority in the House. While ABC News has not yet projected which party will control the chamber, Republicans are two seats away from the threshold with a dozen races still undecided.

House Republicans took an early victory lap as they came back to town Tuesday for the lame-duck session, saying they are prepared to enact Trump's agenda on Day 1 of his administration come January.

"I just want to thank everybody," Trump told the room. "You've been incredible. We worked with a lot of you to get you in, and you helped me, and you helped me too."

As the press was being escorted out of the room, Trump joked to lawmakers: "I suspect I won't be running again unless you do something else, unless you say he's so good we've got to figure something out."

The friendly atmosphere came ahead of Trump's sit-down with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office, a return of a White House tradition that Trump flouted in 2020.

This is Trump's first public appearance since his speech in the early hours after Election Day. He's since huddled at Mar-a-Lago, where he's been rolling out picks for Cabinet roles and other administration positions.

Musk has been weighing in on the decisions, ABC News previously reported.

On Tuesday, Trump announced Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a what he's calling a new "Department of Government Efficiency" to provide outside guidance on reforming federal agencies and cutting government "waste."