Biden, Harris call President-elect Trump to congratulate him on win

WASHINGTON (AP) —Vice President Kamala Harris called President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his election victory, a senior Harris aide said.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the call.

The aide said Harris discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power with Trump ahead of her planned concession speech Wednesday afternoon.

Harris will deliver a concession speech Wednesday at 4 p.m. (EST), her office announced.

Harris will speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched returns Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as President-elect Donald Trump pulled ahead in battleground state results

Biden calls to congratulate Trump

President Joe Biden has called President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his election victory and to invite him to the White House to discuss the transition.

The White House said staff would coordinate a date “in the near future.” Biden plans to address the nation on the election results, which will have sharp implications for his legacy on Thursday. Biden also spoke with Vice President Harris to congratulate her on her campaign.

Trump completes ‘Blue Wall’ sweep, just as he did in 2016

With Donald Trump’s victory in Michigan, he completes a sweep of the Great Lakes “Blue Wall” states that Kamala Harris had considered her smoothest path to victory.

Trump managed the same sweep of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2016, when he defeated Hillary Clinton. President Joe Biden outpaced Trump in those states in 2020.

Unlike Clinton’s campaign in 2016, Harris campaigned heavily across the region through September and October. The vice president spent all day Sunday in Michigan, but she was unable to match Biden’s level of support, most notably in Wayne County, where Detroit offers a trove of Democratic votes.

Trump was active in the region, as well, and he improved on his 2020 margins across the three key states.

US stock market and bitcoin surge on Trump’s return to office

Investors are betting on what Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world.

The Dow jumped 1,200 points, or 2.8% early Wednesday and major stocks including Elon Musk’s Tesla and bitcoin soared.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the Truth Social platform, also surged.

Nikki Haley calls Trump’s win ‘a great moment for democracy’

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who became one of Trump’s more vocal challengers in the 2024 Republican primary before eventually endorsing him, said on her radio show Wednesday that he “defied gravity” with his win.

“He got through two assassination attempts. He got through two impeachments, he got through numerous indictments, and America still elected him because, at the end of the day, they knew what they were getting with Donald Trump. And that’s what they wanted to see,” she said.

Haley called it “a great moment for democracy.”