Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Patrick Lambert on the campaign trail in September 2015. Photo from Facebook

President Barack Obama hosted 16 tribal leaders in Washington, D.C., on February 23, The Cherokee One Feather reported.

The meeting, which presumably took place at the White House, coincided with the National Congress of American Indians winter session. Patrick Lambert, the recently-installed prinicpal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, was among those in attendance.

“That was a head-of-state meeting,” Lambert told the paper. “Before I even finished the first five months of my administration, I got to sit down with the leader of the free world. I took that as a great honor.”

Lambert also discussed the visit on his official Facebook page. He said the meeting lasted well over an hour.

"I told him I know he likes Asheville and we are only an hour west, he said 'I have a helicopter and it shouldn't take that long,'" Lambert wrote last week.

The White House has not released the names of any of the other attendees but Obama typically hosts a group tribal leaders prior to the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference. This year's event will be the last of his administration.

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