Seven things Trump says he will do as president
Donald Trump is set to return to the White House, having promised action on issues including immigration, the economy and the war in Ukraine.
He looks likely to enjoy plenty of support for his political agenda in Congress after his Republican Party regained control of the Senate.
In his victory speech, Trump vowed he would “govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept. We’re going to keep our promises”.
But in some cases, he has given little detail of how he might achieve his aims.
Asked in 2023 by Fox News whether he would abuse his power or target political opponents, he replied he would not, “except for day one”.
“No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
1) Deport undocumented migrants
While campaigning, Trump promised the biggest mass deportations of undocumented migrants in US history.
He also pledged to complete the building of a wall at the border with Mexico that was started during his first presidency.
The number of crossings at the US southern border hit record levels at the end of last year during the Biden-Harris administration, before falling in 2024.
Experts have told the BBC that deportations on the scale promised by Trump would face huge legal and logistical challenges – and could slow economic growth.
2) Moves on economy, tax and tariffs
Exit poll data has suggested the economy was a key issue for voters. Trump has promised to “end inflation” – which rose to high levels under President Joe Biden before falling again. But a president’s power to directly influence prices is limited.
He has also promised sweeping tax cuts, extending his overhaul from 2017. He has proposed making tips tax-free, abolishing tax on social security payments and shaving corporation tax.
He has proposed new tariffs of at least 10% on most foreign goods, to cut the trade deficit. Imports from China could bear an additional 60% tariff, he has said. Some economists have warned that such moves could push up prices for ordinary people.
3) Cut climate regulations
During his first presidency, Trump rolled back hundreds of environmental protections and made America the first nation to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
This time, he has again vowed to cut regulations, particularly as a way to help the American car industry. He has constantly attacked electric vehicles, promising to overturn Biden’s targets encouraging the switch to cleaner cars.
He has pledged to increase production of US fossil fuels – vowing to “drill, drill, drill” on day one in favour of renewable energy sources such as wind power.
He wants to open areas such as the Arctic wilderness to oil drilling, which he argues would lower energy costs – though analysts are sceptical.
4) End Ukraine war
Trump has criticised the tens of billions of dollars spent by the US on supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia – and has pledged to end the conflict “within 24 hours” through a negotiated deal.
He has not said what he thinks either side should give up. Democrats say the move would embolden President Vladimir Putin.
Trump wants the US to disentangle itself from foreign conflicts generally. Regarding the war in Gaza – Trump has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel, but has urged the American ally to end its operation.
He has also pledged to end the related violence in Lebanon, but gave no detail on how.
5) No abortion ban
Against the wishes of some of his supporters, Trump said during the presidential debate with Kamala Harris that he would not sign into law a national abortion ban.
In 2022, the nationwide constitutional right to abortion was overturned by the Supreme Court, which had a majority of conservative judges following Trump’s first presidency.
Reproductive rights became a key campaigning topic for Harris, and several states approved measures to protect or expand abortion rights on polling day.
Trump himself has regularly said states should be free to decide their own laws on abortion, but struggled to find a consistent message of his own.
6) Pardon some Jan 6 rioters
Trump has said he will “free” some of those convicted of offences during the riot in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol building in an effort to thwart the 2020 election victory of Joe Biden.
Several deaths were blamed on the violence, which Trump was accused of inciting.
He has worked to downplay the riot’s significance and recast the hundreds of supporters who were convicted as political prisoners.
He continues to say many of them are “wrongfully imprisoned”, though has acknowledged that “a couple of them, probably they got out of control”.
7) Sack Special Counsel Jack Smith
Trump has vowed to sack “within two seconds” of taking office the veteran prosecutor leading two criminal investigations against him.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has indicted Trump over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Trump denies any wrongdoing, and managed to prevent either case coming to trial before the election. He says Mr Smith has subjected him to a “political witch hunt”.
Trump will return to the White House as the first ever president with a criminal conviction, having been found guilty in New York of falsifying business records.
Trump win to test limit of presidential power; Harris concedes but vows to ‘fight’
“To everyone who is watching, do not despair,” she said. “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
Harris said she had called Trump to congratulate him and promised to aid his transition. But she was not prepared to embrace his vision for the country.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she said, as some supporters in the crowd shed tears. “The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people.”
At least 200 people gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago to protest his election. One banner at the front read “Trump out!” as demonstrators also called for and end to Israel’s Gaza incursion, pictures on social media showed.
Biden planned to address the nation at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on Thursday. The White House said Biden was committed to a smooth transition between now and Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump’s campaign said Biden called Trump to congratulate him and invite him to a meeting at the White House at an unspecified time.
Trump’s resounding victory underscored how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy, border security and the direction of the country and its culture. Voters demanded a change, even if the agent of change was a convicted felon twice impeached and no longer the Washington outsider he was in his 2016 campaign.
Trump has said he wants the authority to fire civil servants he views as disloyal and has vowed to use federal law enforcement agencies to investigate or prosecute perceived enemies, including political rivals.
Trump promised roles in his administration to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a prominent Trump donor, and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Musk contributed at least $119 million to a pro-Trump spending group, giving him extraordinary influence to help his companies secure favorable government treatment.
The outcome defied polls that showed a razor-close race ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day. Trump prevailed in at least five of the seven battleground states to push him over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency and was leading in the remaining two, Arizona and Nevada, where votes were still being tallied.
Trump was also on track to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush two decades ago.
His fellow Republicans wrested control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats and had added to their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, though the outcome there may not be known for several days with dozens of races still uncalled.
“It was a hell of a good day,” said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader.
OVERCOMING ODDS
Trump thinks presidents have near-total power: there will be little to stop him in his second term
Donald Trump believes presidents have almost absolute power. In his second term, there will be few political or legal restraints to check him.
The president-elect’s sweeping victory over Vice President Kamala Harris suddenly turned the theoretical notion that he will indulge his autocratic instincts into a genuine possibility.
When Trump returns to the White House in January as one of the most powerful presidents in history, he’ll be able to take advantage of his own filleting of guardrails during his first presidency, which he continued through legal maneuverings out of office.
It’s not guaranteed that just because Trump has massive power he will spurn constitutional checks and balances. His past behavior doesn’t have to predict the future. But the lesson of Trump’s business and political careers is that he seeks to obliterate all constraints.
He has, for instance, crushed opposition in the Republican Party and driven out political heretics who oppose his “Make America Great Again” creed. This will be increasingly significant since the GOP has already flipped the Senate and still hopes to complete a monopoly on Washington power by keeping the House, which CNN has not yet projected.
No other president has come into office armed with a Supreme Court ruling that grants significant immunity to presidents for official acts. The decision, a direct result of Trump’s effort to challenge his federal indictment for 2020 election meddling, is limited — but he is certain to take an expansive view of its meaning. The ruling emerged from a conservative court majority fashioned by Trump in his first term and that many legal observers now see as a rubber stamp on future power grabs.
A mandate
Perhaps most significantly, Trump can claim democratic legitimacy for what is already shaping up as the most intemperate presidency of the modern era, after increasing his vote share across multiple demographics. “Everybody knew this when they voted yesterday. So yes, the American people voted for basically this unchecked power that the president is going to have,” said former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who alienated himself from his party by standing up to Trump following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump tried to destroy democracy to stay in power after the 2020 election. Four years later, he presented his platform to voters and won an Electoral College majority. He may also bolster his legitimacy by becoming the first Republican president to win the popular vote since 2004.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” the former and future president said at his Mar-a-Lago victory party early Wednesday.
Trump has denied that he wants autocratic power, saying his claim he’d be a dictator on day one is a joke and that he is instead the savior of democracy.
Yet millions of Americans chose Trump after his extreme closing argument in which he proposed the biggest deportation operation in US history, mused about using the military against “enemies from within” and vowed to prosecute political opponents and expel Haitian refugees in Ohio who are legally in the country and whom he falsely accused of eating people’s pets.
Ignoring legal attempts to hold him to account
Trump’s willingness to wield unchecked executive power will not only be facilitated by his interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling on immunity. He has already subverted constraints on presidential authority. His two impeachments — over trying to coerce Ukraine with aid and the Capitol insurrection – didn’t rein in his impulses. And the Republicans’ refusal to convict him in the Senate showed the toothlessness of this crucial constitutional remedy when a political party has chosen to appease an extreme president in return for power.
In Trump’s first term, some Republicans sometimes hampered his agenda. The late Arizona Sen. John McCain, for instance, thwarted an attempt to overturn key provisions of the Affordable Care Act with his thumbs down vote. But Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned Wednesday that dissent would not be tolerated from GOP members. “I will not let them and neither will the American people who have given us this amazing opportunity to save this country,” the Georgia Republican posted on X.
Kinzinger scoffed at the idea that a GOP Congress would temper Trump. “On paper, it’s a real thing, in practice no,” the former Illinois lawmaker told CNN’s Dana Bash Wednesday. “There is no chance, 0.0% chance, that Donald Trump says something and Republicans in the House buck him anymore.”
Trump, by winning back the Oval Office, has also evaded the constraints of the law. So, in addition to having the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling in his back pocket, why would he be cowed by the possibility of future legal action against him?
Within hours of election night. Special counsel Jack Smith was already talking with the Justice Department about ending two federal prosecutions against Trump — over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents — in line with Office of Legal Counsel curbs on prosecutions of sitting presidents. A state election meddling case in Georgia is now imperiled. And huge doubts also hang over the pending sentencing of Trump after a conviction in a hush money case in New York.
‘The danger is very real’
The scope for Trump to stretch historic interpretations of his executive power is immense.
“The danger is very real,” said Corey Brettschneider, professor of politics at Brown University, and author of the book “The Presidents and the People: Five leaders who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens who Fought to Defend it.” Brettschneider cited Revolutionary War hero Patrick Henry’s disquiet about the possibility that the office of the presidency was so powerful that an incumbent with authoritarian ambitions could ascend an “American throne.” While the founders modeled the presidency on the persona of George Washington, Brettschneider explained that Henry proposed this hypothetical: “What if a bad person gets in that office or even a criminal president? And his point is, you know, these supposed checks, because they assume a virtuous person, they’re pretty weak.” Now that America has a convicted felon as its president-elect — and one who has massive ambitions for his own power — that’s no longer a hypothetical.
Trump has plenty of models for his second term. He has frequently praised foreign autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, who face no democratic accountability. He admires the rule of his friend, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has eroded institutions of accountability, including government departments, the court system and the press. “Some people don’t like him because he’s too strong. It’s good to have a strong man at the head of a country,” Trump reflected at a rally in New Hampshire in January.
Trump’s conception of the presidency was encapsulated by his statement in July 2019 that the Constitution gave him untamed power. “I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president,” he said. Article II lays out the duties of the presidency — but it does not, in conventional interpretations, at least, suggest blanket executive authority.
Trump’s attitude moved then-federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to remark in a 2019 ruling, which ordered compliance by former White House counsel Don McGahn with a congressional subpoena, that “the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings.”
It will take time to rein in Trump
So, are there any constraints?
The greatest inhibition to presidential overreach is the sitting president himself, who can chose to remain within bounds of accepted executive action. But self-restraint is a concept alien to Trump. This is not just a personal trait. Such conduct is endemic to his political appeal — and he was just elected by millions of voters who endorsed his promise to eviscerate a governing system that they believe has failed them. In the past, Trump has sometimes been loath to take steps that might make him politically unpopular — yet he will take office knowing he does not have to appeal to voters ever again since he’s in his second term.
The most effective clamp on Trump’s future power would be a Democratic House majority, which could challenge the new White House with the power of oversight — even if Trump has already mocked the ultimate sanction of impeachment. But with races still outstanding, Republicans are closer to the 218 seats needed for the majority than Democrats.
Then there are the courts. Activist groups are sure to lodge cases against Trump’s immigration moves, as happened over his ban on travelers from certain Muslim nations in his first term. Such maneuvers can tie up a president for months — although the scores of Trump-appointed judges and the conservative Supreme Court majority may give the administration reprieves.
Attempts to prosecute Trump’s political foes on spurious grounds, meanwhile, could theoretically see mass resignations of Justice Department staff. This is one reason why the new administration may roll out plans to sack entire echelons of the civil service to ensure total loyalty to the new president. And the former president is unlikely to make his first-term mistake of appointing officials who confront him – like former chief of staff John Kelly and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Brettschneider argues in his book published this year that an authoritarian president would not present a hopeless situation for US democracy. He examines five commanders in chief who threatened democracy and shows how they spawned protest movements, citizen activism and eventually democratic victories that created restorative presidencies.
Still, such responses can’t often halt presidential acts in their commission, meaning that the fate of the country and its democracy often hinges on the president himself. The founders were “sitting there in the Constitutional Convention and looking at Washington, and they thought to themselves, ‘this is a person of virtue. That’s who they had as a model in mind,’” Brettschneider said. “When you have somebody who’s not a model of virtue, they can really wreak havoc.”
Trump’s allies are already jockeying for high-powered spots in his administration
President-elect Donald Trump’s allies are quickly jockeying for positions in a new Trump administration on the heels of his decisive victory, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, pitting loyalists against each other to land top roles in the new government.
Those with particular positions in mind have begun reaching out to members of Trump’s inner circle to try and talk themselves up. Trump, who is known to be superstitious, largely avoided these conversations in recent weeks, despite allies who believed they proved their loyalty trying to position themselves favorably.
Many hopefuls were at Trump’s victory parties in Florida Tuesday night and delayed their flights or adjusted their travel schedules to remain in the Palm Beach area. Trump could announce his decision on some key positions within days, sources told CNN.
Trump has also prepared a raft of executive orders, policy papers and regulation reversals to go on day one of taking office, according to sources, describing a president-elect who is focused on what he’ll do immediately after taking the oath of office.
Ahead of the election, transition heads Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon met with some potential candidates for high-ranking positions within the administration to discuss what that would look like, sources familiar with the meetings told CNN.
Occasionally over the past few months, Trump would float names as possible administration picks, but he would not engage further. Sources close to the former president said that because he was superstitious, Trump often refused to engage in lengthier conversations about who would be placed in an administration before the election took place.
Now Trump can’t ignore the decisions about who will staff the key roles in his administration tasked with implementing the president-elect’s sweeping plans to remake the federal government.
During private conversations in the last few days, Trump has made one thing clear: He wants to reward those who stood by him during the last two years of his presidential bid.
Trump has said he regretted many of the people he put in senior roles when he won the White House in 2016, angry with top aides and Cabinet officials who tried to thwart his often-impulsive demands and desires. Many of the loyalists lining up for positions say they intend to operate in the new administration free of any officials who will undercut Trump.
During the campaign, the president-elect fiercely distanced himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation effort to map out a sweeping agenda for the new Trump administration, along with vetting hundreds of people who could join the federal government and were deemed loyal to Trump.
John McEntee, a Trump ally who served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office and remains close to him, helmed the personnel operation – which is expected to provide recommendations to the transition for administration posts. Cliff Sims, another top aide during his first term, and Ross Werner, a former Pentagon and Goldman Sachs official, have also assisted with vetting.
Some advisers have proposed a work around to traditional background checks conducted for specific White House jobs that would allow for a quicker installation of loyalists into the administration, according to two sources briefed on the proposal. Some of Trump’s hires during his first administration were held up or thwarted due to lengthy and in-depth background checks, which could be a problem again this time around.
The West Wing
One of Trump’s most important picks will be his White House chief of staff. During his first term, Trump churned through four chiefs of staff, including John Kelly, who said last month that Trump fits “into the general definition of fascist.”
There are at least three people being floated as potential chiefs of staff for the new Trump administration. That list includes his 2024 co-campaign manager, Susie Wiles, who sources close to Trump believe is the frontrunner. Wiles remained loyal to Trump when several Republicans tried to distance themselves from him after he left the White House in 2021.
“She makes him feel comfortable,” one source close to Trump said of Wiles.
Russ Vought, Trump’s former budget director who oversaw a widespread push to deregulate, could find himself in pole position if Trump decides to embrace the pillars of Project 2025, which Vought co-authored.
The list of potential White House chiefs also includes CEO of the America First Policy Institute, Brooke Rollins, and Bob Lighthizer, Trump’s former US trade representative.
Karoline Leavitt, who was Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, is being considered as White House press secretary – a job that typically is the most public-facing position in the White House.
Musk and RFK Jr.
One of the key decisions Trump will have to make is what to do with the high-profile but polarizing supporters who boosted his campaign in the final months, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X.
It’s not clear yet whether either could be confirmed by the Senate for a Cabinet position – a question that may be decided by the ultimate margin that Republicans have next year.
Musk, whose pro-Trump super PAC spent more than $118 million in the 2024 campaign, has pitched himself to lead a broad effort to slash spending inside the federal government.
A source familiar with the conversations around Musk said it seemed unlikely that he would even want a full-time government position, given what that would mean for his role in the various companies he helms.
Instead, it seemed more plausible that Musk would be appointed to a blue-ribbon committee where he would still have enormous access, but he would not be subject to government ethics rules, which would require him to divest or put assets in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest between his private business interests and government role.
While the president-elect continues to praise Kennedy publicly, advisers have acknowledged that he has caused some headaches for the campaign. An interview Wednesday further exacerbated that concern, when Kennedy was continually pressed on his stance on vaccines, just hours after Trump won the presidency in an historic political comeback.
“That is not what we want people focused on today,” a source close to Trump said of the exchange.
The Kennedy and Trump teams have been discussing the potential for a czar-like position with a broad remit and direct, regular access to the president. His wide-ranging interests – addiction, nutrition, mental health, vaccines, and the environment – span multiple agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
Inside Trump’s camp, questions have been raised about whether Kennedy could get confirmed or obtain a security clearance necessary for a Cabinet-level position. And even if he could, they doubt Kennedy would want to go through those processes.
“If you dump a bear in Central Park and think you’re above the law, you don’t want to have to go through that gauntlet of political correctness,” said a former Trump official briefed on the discussions.
Immigration and the law
Roles overseeing immigration and law enforcement will be central in Trump’s ability to advance an agenda that he has suggested will include mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and prosecutions of his political enemies. Many Trump loyalists have suggested those are mandates his departments of Justice and Homeland Security should carry out.
Among those being floated for attorney general, which Trump has suggested will be among the most important roles he fills: Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who, like Trump, was both indicted and impeached; Matt Whitaker, who served in an acting capacity after Trump fired then-AG Jeff Sessions; Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. Conservative attorney Mark Paoletta has been pitched directly to Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel, a former Trump national security official who is helping organize the next administration’s transition, spent Wednesday taking meetings and calls at a Palm Beach County office from a flood of people interested in jobs in the incoming administration, according to a former Trump administration official involved in the process. Patel is helping to manage a somewhat chaotic process with multiple Trump campaign officials pushing lists of potential nominees for key jobs.
Patel and Trump are both vowing to oust officials who played any role in investigations of Trump and his supporters. Trump has vowed to fire Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed in 2017 after firing James Comey, and whose 10-year term has more than two years remaining. Jeffrey Jensen, a former Trump-appointed US attorney in St. Louis, is among the names being considered to run the FBI.
Then-Attorney General Bill Barr appointed Jensen in 2020 to review several politically sensitive prosecutions, including the one of Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI before Barr ordered the case to be dropped.
National security posts
Trump has suggested his national security team would be tasked with reassessing the United States’ posture toward Ukraine and Russia, China, Iran, and the simmering conflict in the Middle East. The debate over a renewed Trump’s “America First” agenda is expected to pit Republican national security hawks against the party’s isolationist wing.
Secretary of state and national security adviser will be among the most hard-fought positions to stand at the forefront of those shifts.
For Foggy Bottom, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a China hawk and finalist for Trump’s VP, is under consideration, as is Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Japan during his first term.
Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist and former ambassador to Germany, has also been floated for the position, though he could end up in a number of potential slots. Grenell is one of several Trump loyalists who is seen as a shoo-in for a position, with questions over the particular role. Grenell was Trump’s acting director of national intelligence for several months in 2020 and has also been suggested for a role such as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he may be urged by Trump to unearth the so-called “deep state.”
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Keith Kellogg, and Ratcliffe are also in the mix for intelligence or national security roles.
Patel himself has told associates that he wants to be CIA director, people briefed on the matter say. It would be a triumph after Trump contemplated in his final months in office putting Patel in key jobs at FBI or CIA. That idea was blocked by opposition from then CIA Director Gina Haspel and Barr.
Cotton is also among those being floated for secretary of defense, in addition to Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who is House GOP Conference Chair, is being strongly considered as United Nations ambassador, and has been mentioned for CIA. She’s met with the transition team about the prospect of the UN role.
A number of others are also being floated for the UN ambassador job, including former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kelly Craft, who was the UN ambassador at the end of Trump’s first term.
Economic roles
To promote his economic platform of broad-brush tariffs and tax cuts, Trump is expected to lean on longtime allies and loyalists, while tapping into Wall Street heavyweights to round out his domestic agencies.
There are several names being batted around for Treasury secretary. They include Scott Bessent, who prepared Trump for his economic club speeches.
“He’s a former Soros guy who captured the MAGA movement. The president loves that, former Democrats that he’s flipped. That’s why he loves Elon so much,” said a source familiar with the matter.
Hank Paulson, a former Goldman Sachs CEO who led George Bush’s Treasury Department during the onset of the Great Recession, is also under consideration – in large part because of the diplomatic ties he’s forged with top officials in the Chinese Communist Party. Jay Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is seen as a “dark horse,” according to one source.
Lighthizer has also expressed interest in the Treasury post. Both Lighthizer and McMahon are also under consideration to run the Commerce Department.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was a finalist to be Trump’s vice-presidential pick, is being floated as interior secretary.
At the Office of the US Trade Representative – a once-sleepy outfit across the street from the White House – the Trump team is looking for someone who wouldn’t flinch at his often mercurial whims on tariff policy. Jamieson Greer, who served as Lighthizer’s deputy when Trump instituted across-the-board tariffs on adversaries and allies alike, is the name sources raise most often for this role.
Harris urges supporters to accept results after Trump’s election win
What we covered here
• Harris’ message to supporters: Vice President Kamala Harris urged supporters to accept the 2024 presidential election results and committed to a peaceful transfer of power following Donald Trump’s win. In a concession speech Wednesday, Harris also promised to keep up the “fight that fueled this campaign.”
• Trump’s win: The president-elect will return for a second term in a historic comeback after losing in 2020, attempting to overturn the results and facing a criminal conviction. In a speech, Trump vowed to “heal” the nation, fix the border and deliver a strong economy. He also celebrated the GOP taking the Senate, while the House is still up for grabs.
• Upcoming transition: Trump is ready to move on his agenda and could announce staff picks within days, sources say, as his allies are already jockeying for high-powered spots in his administration. As Trump prepares his next steps, CNN also reported that the special counsel is in talks with the DOJ about ending the federal cases against him.
Trump team in discussions about when he should go to Washington, DC
President-elect Donald Trump’s team is in discussions about when he should go to Washington, DC, to meet with President Joe Biden, a source familiar tells CNN.
A source suggested that the date of the meeting was not final but could happen next week before Biden goes on a weeklong foreign trip. On November 14, Biden is scheduled to depart Washington for South America, with stops in Peru, Brazil, and the Amazon rainforest.
On the trip, Biden will attend summits with leaders from the Asia-Pacific region and the Group of 20 nations. Understanding how Trump will approach relationships with those leaders in a second term will inform Biden’s bilateral meetings with close allies, as well as interactions on the sidelines with US adversaries.
Trump’s team are hoping he goes to Washington, DC, on the earlier side, with the source saying it could even be next week.
Some background: A White House official said earlier today that Biden spoke with Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his victory and invited him to the White House. During that call, Biden also “expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasized the importance of working to bring the country together,” the official said.
Trump said he “very much appreciated” the call from Biden and said he planned to meet the president “shortly,” according to the campaign.
These are the world leaders who congratulated Trump
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was one of the many world leaders who spoke with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday.
The crown prince called “to convey the best wishes for the American people under his presidency,” according to the Saudi ambassador.
Bin Salman also reiterated the “historic relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States,” Reema Bandar Al-Saud said in a post on X.
During his first four years, Trump made history by selecting Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip, attempted to broker a “deal of the century” between Israelis and Palestinians, to strengthen the Jewish state’s regional integration, and intensified pressure on Iran.
Other world leaders who have congratulated Trump:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he called to congratulate Trump and that the two leaders “agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation.” Trump has cast doubts on continued US commitment to Kyiv as Russia’s war drags on. Trump has also made comments that suggest the US could pressure Ukraine into an uneasy truce with Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also offered his congratulations, according to China’s Foreign Ministry. Xi told Trump he hoped both countries could “find the right way” to “get along in the new era.” The two countries’ contentious relationship was particularly strained under Trump’s last presidency.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, in a phone conversation, emphasized strengthening the US-Japan alliance “from various perspectives,” he told reporters. Trump has previously voiced a skeptical view of the bilateral relationship, questioning the value of the alliance and saying Tokyo should pay more for the US troops stationed there.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol congratulated Trump in a phone call during which they discussed the countries’ trilateral cooperation with Japan and his aspiration to advance the two countries’ alliance across “security and economic spheres,” as well as concerns over North Korea’s troop deployments to Ukraine and growing weapons capabilities, the country’s deputy national security adviser said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump on separate calls, congratulating him and emphasizing their countries’ strong alliances with the US.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said Starmer “reflected on the situation in the Middle East and underscored the importance of regional stability” during the call. Meloni’s office said she and Trump “expressed their willingness to work in close coordination” on “promoting stability and security” against the backdrop of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
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