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If you want to read more about Donald Trump’s reported phone call with Vladimir Putin, you can see our full report here.
Some companies have been moving factories from China to Southeast Asia, anticipating Donald Trump would slap high tariffs on Beijing if he regained the White House, a move set to accelerate with his election win, industrial park developers in the region say.
Trump, who won a resounding victory on Tuesday, has threatened 60% tariffs on goods coming into the US from China, much higher than the levies of 7.5% to 25% he imposed in his first term, a major risk for the world’s second-largest economy.
Southeast Asia - which has auto and electronics factories from Thailand to Vietnam and Malaysia - will likely benefit at China’s expense, said two executives, two business groups, a lawyer and an analyst in the region, speaking to Reuters.
Developers of industrial parks are adding Chinese speakers and preparing land tracts for factories, a sign of how Trump, who takes office in January, could reshuffle global supply chains.
As Trump geared up his campaign to retake the presidency earlier this year, calls from Chinese customers flooded WHA Group, one of Thailand’s largest industrial estate developers, said CEO Jareeporn Jarukornsakul.
“There was [already] a relocation to Southeast Asia, but this round is going to be more intense,” she said, referring to Trump‘s 2017-2021 first term.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks with Donald Trump
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and president-elect Donald Trump spoke on Sunday evening to exchange views on bilateral relations and geopolitical challenges, a German government spokesperson said.
“The chancellor emphasised the German government’s willingness to continue the decades of successful cooperation between the two countries’ governments. They also agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe,” he said.
Joe Biden has invited Trump to come to the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said earlier today. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Biden’s top message will be his commitment to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, and he will also talk to Trump about what’s happening in Europe, in Asia and the Middle East.
“President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe,” Sullivan told CBS.
When asked if Biden would ask Congress to pass legislation to authorise more funding for Ukraine, Sullivan deferred.
“I’m not here to put forward a specific legislative proposal. President Biden will make the case that we do need ongoing resources for Ukraine beyond the end of his term,” Sullivan said.
Trump will take office on 20 January.
Ukraine not informed in advance of Trump-Putin call
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said reports Kyiv was informed in advance of a phone call between president-elect Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are false.
The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Trump and Putin spoke by phone on Thursday and discussed the war in Ukraine. It said Kyiv was informed of the call and did not object to the conversation taking place.
“Reports that the Ukrainian side was informed in advance of the alleged call are false. Subsequently, Ukraine could not have endorsed or opposed the call,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.
In an interview on Fox News, Republican Senator Rick Scott said that the Senate needs to implement real change. Scott is running to fill the influential post of Senate majority leader, after the party won control of the chamber.
We can’t keep doing what we’re doing … That’s what Donald Trump got elected to do, to be the change.”
Trump campaigned on promises, among other things, to deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally, cut taxes, impose tariffs on international trading partners and loosen fiscal policy.
Scott has the backing of several Republican senators, but it remains whether he can bring Republican moderates to his side.
Each party votes on their leader in the Senate in January, after senators have been sworn in to the new Congress. Whoever wins the Republican leadership will succeed Democrat Chuck Schumer as majority leader.
Scott has already garnered an endorsement from Elon Musk.
Summary
Donald Trump had a call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, according to a report from the Washington Post, telling the Russian president that he shouldn’t escalate the war with Ukraine. Trump reportedly floated support for a deal where Russia ends its offense in exchange for territory.
The race for a new Senate majority leader is heating up, with three Republicans vying for the spot. Senator Rick Scott of Florida has so far won the support from Trump’s Maga camp, including from RFK Jr, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk. Trump has yet to announce an endorsement himself, though he said on Sunday that he would want a new leader to conduct “recess appointments”, a controversial method of getting cabinet members into office quickly while temporarily sidestepping a lengthy Senate confirmation process.
Multiple Democrats have spent the weekend on the talk show circuit speculating on where the party went wrong this election. A vocal critic has emerged in the form of Bernie Sanders, who doubled down on his comments that Democrats lost working class voters to Trump after failing to be strong advocates against corporate power.
Bitcoin soared to a new record high on Sunday, as the cryptocurrency continues to rise after Trump’s presidential election win. The digital currency passed $80,000 for the first time in its history shortly after 12am GMT, according to AFP.
Updated
Yadira Caraveo, a Democrat representative for Colorado, announced she is conceding in her race against Republican Gabe Evans. The AP has yet to call the race.
It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of #CO08. Thank you to my family, volunteers, staff and supporters who believed in this campaign. While this isn’t the outcome we hoped for, the work is not over. pic.twitter.com/duWSpmfabd
— Dr. Yadira Caraveo (@YadiraCaraveo) November 10, 2024
The chance for Democrats to take a House majority grows slimmer with each race that is won by a Republican candidate. House Republicans have 213 seats, with Caraveo conceding her race. That means Republicans need five more seats to maintain their majority, while House Democrats need at least 15 wins – what may be hard with many closely contested races yet to be called.
The election is still tense in Arizona as the AP has yet to call a closely watched race between Democrat Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake, polls for which have shown Gallego in a slight lead over Lake.
Republicans in Arizona are countering American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) efforts to extend a ballot curing deadline set for 5pm on Sunday.
Thousands of votes are still left to be verified, or “cured”, as election officials attempt to contact voters about ballots with issues, like signatures that don’t match voter records.
Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for the Arizona GOP, said the party filed papers in an attempt to block an extension.
On Saturday, Warren Petersen, a Republican state senator and president of the Arizona senate, said on Twitter/X that he authorized the state senate to intervene and “defend existing law so we can determine the outcome as soon as possible. It has already taken too much time!”
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Seems like the term “recess appointments” is going to be heard a lot over the next few days, as Senate Republicans vote in a new majority leader this week.
Donald Trump on Sunday, while avoiding an endorsement of any of the three senators who are running to be leader – John Cornyn of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida and John Thune of South Dakota – called on the new leader to get his cabinet appointments through quickly through “recess appointments”.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments,” Trump tweeted. “Without which we will not be able to get confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again.”
Recess appointments are made when the Senate is in recess and are seen as temporary appointments, but are used to quickly get nominees into office without a lengthy Senate confirmation process – which includes hearings and votes. Essentially, a recess appointment is a way Trump could quickly get his cabinet seated, while temporarily sidestepping the confirmation process.
It’s a controversial move, and the candidates for Senate majority leader are already weighing in support. Thune, in a statement, said: “We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments.”
Scott simply replied to Trump saying: “I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.”
• This post was amended on 11 November 2024 to correct the spelling of John Cornyn’s last name.
Updated
Donald Trump was declared the winner in Arizona early on Sunday, completing the Republicans’ clean sweep of the so-called swing states and rubbing salt in Democrats’ wounds as it was announced that the president-elect is scheduled to meet with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the presidential handover.
In a national campaign that was projected as being extremely close but he ended up winning handily, the result in Arizona gives Trump 312 electoral college votes, compared with Kamala Harris’s 226. The state joins the other Sun belt swing states – Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina – and the three Rust belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in voting Republican. All were expected to be extremely competitive but all went for Trump, though by fairly close margins.
Republicans also regained control of the Senate – they hold 53 seats to the Democrats’ 46 – and look likely to keep control of the House of Representatives, where 21 races remain uncalled but Republicans currently have a 212-202 advantage, giving them a “trifecta” – both houses of Congress as well as the presidency – that will allow them to govern largely unfettered for at least the next two years.
The political realignment comes after a bruising election that has set the stage for the Democratic party to re-evaluate a platform that appeared to have been rejected by a majority of US voters. Trump also won the popular vote, the first time a Republican has done so since George W Bush in 2004 following the 9/11 attacks a few years before.
Elon Musk is weighing in on the three-way race for Senate majority leader among Republicans, endorsing Florida senator Rick Scott for the leadership position.
Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader! https://t.co/lpT34yHTKk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2024
Scott is running against Senators John Cornyn of Texas and minority whip John Thune of South Dakota. In an earlier tweet on Sunday, Musk called Thune “the top choice of Democrats”.
Donald Trump has not weighed in on the leader race, though he said in a new statement that said the new leader should usher in his nominees as quickly as possible.
“Sometimes the votes can take two years or more,” Trump wrote. “This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”
In reply, Scott said: “I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.”
100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible. https://t.co/GlrHx2zJXh
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) November 10, 2024
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Trump tells Putin to not escalate Ukraine war - report
Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin on Thursday and told the Russian president he should not escalate the war in Ukraine, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
On the campaign trail, Trump said he could end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office, though he hasn’t offered specifics on how he would accomplish that. Trump told Putin that a possible deal could allow Russia to gain some territory, the Post reported.
Days after the election, Trump said that he spoke with 70 world leaders after his victory, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a call that included Elon Musk.
Updated
US representative Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told MSNBC that he stands by comments he made to the New York Times about trans athletes in sports.
Moulton told the New York Times: “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about challenges many Americans face,” he said. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
On MSNBC Sunday, Moulton said he was “speaking authentically as a dad on one of many issues where I think we are out of touch with the majority of voters and I stand by my position. Maybe I didn’t get all the words right, but the point is that the backlash I received proves my point that we can’t even have these discussions as a party.”
Moulton added that the chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party “wouldn’t even return my phone call”.
Some of Moulton’s former staff and interns are circulating a letter to the congressman saying that his remarks come “at the cost of others’ safety and success”.
“The way these concerns were presented risks reinforcing a harmful narrative about trans youth, who already face disproportionate discrimination and challenges,” the letter said.
Bernie Sanders said he opposes any move to force Sonia Sotomayor, the senior liberal justice on the US supreme court, to step down so that Joe Biden could nominate a younger liberal replacement before he finishes his term as president.
Sotomayor, 70, is known to suffer from health issues, and some Democrats fear a repeat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died during Donald Trump’s first term – giving him a third opportunity to nominate a new justice and further shore up the top court’s conservative bent.
In his first term, Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia, Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Anthony Kennedy, and Amy Coney Barrett to take the place of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died less than two months before the 2020 election – leaving six largely conservative judges to just three liberals.
Trump’s first-term appointees to the court were critical to overturning abortion rights and a series of other rulings that delighted conservative activists.
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sanders, a progressive senator who identifies as an independent but usually votes with Democrats, said it would not be “sensible” to ask Sotomayor to step down while Biden is still in office.
He added he had heard “a little bit” of talk from Democratic senators about asking Sotomayor, who is serving a lifetime appointment to the supreme court, to step aside.
“I don’t think it’s sensible,” Sanders said, without elaborating further.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Marco Rubio endorses Rick Scott for Senate majority leader
Senator Marco Rubio just endorsed his Florida colleague to be the next Senate majority leader.
I will be voting for my Florida colleague @ScottforFlorida to be our next Senate GOP leader
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 10, 2024
Scott is seen largely as the “MagaAGA” choice, compared with Republican senators John Thune and John Cornyn, who are seen as more of part of the Republican establishment, having been in office for more than a decade. Scott, meanwhile, is the former governor of Florida and was elected to the Senate in 2018.
The race is set to be a test of whether Senate Republicans want to lean more toward the Trumpian edges of the party, or more toward its establishment center.
Scott first announced himself as a candidate for the leadership race on Wednesday. The vote for a new majority leader will take place later this week.
Updated
Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has an interesting thread on X on what happened to Democrats this election.
Murphy argues that the “tent is too small”.
“The left has never fully grappled with the wreckage of fifty years of neoliberalism, which has left legions of Americans adrift as local places are hollowed out, rapacious profit seeking cannibalizes the common good and unchecked new technology separates and isolates,” he wrote.
Murphy defended colleague Bernie Sanders’ statement saying that Democrats have “abandoned working class people”.
“When progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists. Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base,” he wrote.
“We cannot be afraid of fights – especially with the economic elites who have profited off neoliberalism. The right regularly picks fights with elites – Hollywood, higher ed, etc. Democrats (eg the Harris campaign) are tepid in our fights with billionaires and corporations.”
Rick Scott emerges as front-runner for Senate majority leader
Florida senator Rick Scott is picking up momentum from Donald Trump’s circle as a possible front-runner to be the Senate majority leader.
Multiple conservatives, including Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck and Robert Kennedy Jr have endorsed Scott as the next leader.
The majority leader race appears to be down to three Senate Republicans: John Cornyn, a senator from Texas, Senate minority whip John Thune, of South Dakota and Scott.
In a post on X, Carlson described Cornyn as “an angry liberal whose politics are indistinguishable from Liz Cheney’s”. Meanwhile, Kennedy said that without Scott, “the entire Trump reform agenda [is] wobbly”.
Without Rick Scott, the entire Trump reform agenda wobbly.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) November 10, 2024
Republican senators will vote for their new leader this week. Trump has not weighed in on the race, and some Republicans, including Thune, have asked Trump to stay out of the race. Whoever is chosen to succeed the current majority leader Mitch McConnell, who has been the top Senate Republican since 2015, will have a large sway over how Trump’s agenda can be carried out in Congress.
Updated
Bernie Sanders says Democrats 'defend the status quo' and abandoned working class
Senator Bernie Sanders is on the Sunday talk show circuit today defending his statement saying that Democrats have “abandoned working class people” and have instead “defend[ed] the status quo”.
Democrats like Nancy Pelosi slammed Sanders for his statement, telling the New York Times, “I don’t respect him [for] saying that that.”
Talking to CNN’s Dana Bash, Sanders said the working class is angry and they have a reason to be angry. Harris lost supporters to Donald Trump, who “went around providing an explanation” to voters about why they were feeling about the economy, largely placing the blame on undocumented immigrants.
“That is obviously not the reason,” Sanders said. “The reason in my view is we have an unprecedented level of corporate greed today, more income and wealth inequality and people on top want it all.”
“We need an agenda that says to the working class we are going to take on this powerful working class and take on an agenda that works for you,” he said.
"It's not messaging, Dana."@BernieSanders tells @DanaBashCNN that "when you have three people on top owning more wealth than the bottom half of American society, when you have millions and millions of people working for starvation wages, you got to speak to that reality." pic.twitter.com/cne0C8EvZ8
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 10, 2024
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Here is a summary of the latest developments so far on today’s US politics blog:
Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona, the Associated Press (AP) declared on Saturday, completing a clean sweep of all seven battleground states and locking in a decisive electoral college victory over the Democratic vice-president, Kamala Harris. Trump, who had secured the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House by early Wednesday, now has what is expected to be a final total of 312 votes to Harris’s 226.
Republican US representative Eli Crane won reelection to a US House seat representing Arizona’s second congressional district. The freshman lawmaker defeated former Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, who was vying to become the state’s first Native American representative. In a statement late on Saturday, Crane commended Nez for entering the race and thanked voters.
The AP reported that three other US House races in Arizona were too early to call on Saturday, most notably the first and sixth congressional districts.
Biden and Trump will meet on Wednesday in the Oval Office, the White House announced on Saturday. “At President Biden’s invitation, President Biden and president-elect Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday,” the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in a statement.
Republicans on Saturday appeared close to clinching control of the US House of Representatives, a critical element for Trump to advance his agenda when the president-elect returns to the White House in January.
Trump’s second administration has begun to take shape amid fears over extremist appointments and how far right the US will go while Republicans control the White House and probably both chambers of Congress. The range of names being put forward varies from members of Trump’s inner circle to the world’s richest man, tech mogul Elon Musk.
Trump said on Saturday that former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo will not be asked to join his administration. “I will not be inviting former ambassador Nikki Haley, or former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump posted on social media. “I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country.”
A New York judge is to decide this week whether Trump’s criminal conviction on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star should be overturned in light of the US supreme court’s July ruling on presidential immunity. Justice Juan Merchan has said he will make his decision by Tuesday. It is the first of two pivotal choices that the judge must make after Trump’s 5 November election victory. Merchan also must decide whether to go ahead with sentencing Trump on 26 November as currently scheduled.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that it saw “positive signals” from Trump’s position on Ukraine, while warning it was hard to predict how he would behave in office. “The signals are positive. Trump during his election talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state media published on Sunday.
Protests against Trump erupted in the US on Saturday as people on both coasts took to the streets in frustration about his re-election. Thousands of people in major cities including New York City and Seattle demonstrated against the former president and now president-elect amid his threats against reproductive rights and pledges to carry out mass deportations at the start of his upcoming presidency.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday he had spoken with Trump three times in the past few days aimed at tightening the strong alliance between Israel and the US. “These were good and very important conversations,” Netanyahu said in a statement
Trump’s former Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he will not seek to join the president-elect’s new administration but is ready to offer advice to his successor, including on how to strengthen sanctions on Iran and Russia and contain the growth of US debt. In an interview, Mnuchin told Reuters it was important for the Treasury to work towards strengthening US trade policy. This includes holding Beijing to its US goods purchase commitments in Trump’s January 2020 Phase One deal to rebalance US-China trade, which he said “they’re not living up to.”
The president-elect has charged Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend, and one of the few high-profile figures in corporate America to vocally endorse his campaign, with recruiting officials who will deliver, rather than dilute, his agenda. The CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has made no secret of his plan to stack the new White House with loyalists – and keep out anyone who threatens to derail his pledges.
A senior adviser to Trump said that the incoming US administration’s priority for Ukraine will be achieving peace rather than helping it regain territory captured by Russia in the almost three years of the war. In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on Saturday, Bryan Lanza, who has been a political adviser to Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, said: “When Zelenskyy says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace, once Crimea is returned, we’ve got news for President Zelenskyy: Crimea is gone.”
The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, said he thinks Trump may look favourably on the UK choosing to leave the “bureaucratic blob” of the EU. The Democratic politician told the Sky News Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips program that his “gut” suggested Trump could not pursue tariffs “against allies like the UK”.
Australia’s economy will not be immune from escalating trade tensions, Jim Chalmers has warned, as the Albanese government prepares itself for an incoming Trump administration. In a speech to be delivered on Monday, the treasurer will outline the risks of an “uncertain world characterised by economic vulnerability and volatility” but will say the Australian government is “well-placed and well-prepared”.
A British minister said on Sunday that the government is unlikely to ask the Reform party leader Nigel Farage to act as an intermediary to deal with Trump. The UK Treasury minister, Darren Jones, said on Sunday that the government would probably reject that offer. Farage had said at the weekend he would be willing to act as an intermediary for the UK government because it is in the national interest. Jones also said that the UK is examining all possible options when it comes Trump’s approach to Ukraine.
An employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has been fired from her job and is being investigated because she told a disaster relief team she was directing in Florida after Hurricane Milton to avoid homes displaying election campaign signs supporting Trump, conduct that the agency head on Saturday called “reprehensible”.
Bitcoin soared to a new record high on Sunday, as the cryptocurrency continues to rise after Trump’s presidential election win. The digital currency passed $80,000 for the first time in its history shortly after 12am GMT, according to AFP.
Updated
Joe Biden stood before the American people, millions of whom were still reeling from the news of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race, and reassured them: “We’re going to be OK.”
In his first remarks since his vice-president and chosen successor, Kamala Harris, lost the presidential election, Biden delivered a pep talk from the White House Rose Garden on a sunny Thursday that clashed with Democrats’ black mood in the wake of their devastating electoral losses. Biden pledged a smooth transfer of power to Trump and expressed faith in the endurance of the American experiment.
“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” Biden said. “A defeat does not mean we are defeated. We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up. That’s the story of America for over 240 years and counting.”
The message severely clashed with the dire warnings that many Democrats, including Biden, have issued about the dangers of a second Trump term. They have predicted that Trump’s return to power would jeopardize the very foundation of American democracy. They assured voters that Trump would make good on his promise to deport millions of undocumented people. And they raised serious doubts about Trump’s pledge to veto a nationwide abortion ban.
Now as they stare down four more years of Trump’s presidency, Democrats must reckon with the reality that those warnings were for naught. Not only did Trump win the White House, but he is on track to win the popular vote, making him the first Republican to do so since 2004. Senate Republicans have regained their majority, and they appear confident in their chances of holding the House of Representatives, with several key races still too close to call on Friday morning.
Updated
Donald Trump could have an easier time limiting press freedom in his second term in the White House after a campaign marked by virulent rhetoric towards journalists and calls for punishing television networks and prosecuting journalists and their sources, legal scholars and journalism advocacy groups warn.
Aside from worries about Trump’s demonization of the press inciting violence against journalists, free press advocates appear to be most alarmed by Trump’s call for the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke TV networks’ broadcast licenses and talk of jailing journalists who refuse to reveal anonymous sources.
Still, despite a conservative majority on the supreme court and likely Republican control of the House and Senate, those same people also say that America’s robust first amendment protections and a legislative proposal and technology to protect sources mean that a diminished press under Trump is not a certainty.
“My big-picture concern is that Trump is going to do exactly what he has been telling us that he wants to do, which is that he is going to punish his critics,” said Heidi Kitrosser, a Northwestern University law professor.
Kitrosser added:
He is going to punish people who dissent from his approach to things, people who criticize him and also, perhaps more importantly, investigative journalists and their sources who are not offering opinions but are exposing facts that he finds embarrassing or inconvenient.”
Trump has long said journalists deliver “fake news” and are the “enemy of the people”, but since leaving office in 2021 he has used more violent language. At a 2022 rally in Texas, Trump suggested that the threat of rape in prison could compel a journalist to reveal their sources.
Australia’s economy will not be immune from escalating trade tensions, Jim Chalmers has warned, as the Albanese government prepares itself for an incoming Donald Trump administration.
In a speech to be delivered on Monday, the treasurer will outline the risks of an “uncertain world characterised by economic vulnerability and volatility” but will say the Australian government is “well-placed and well-prepared”.
There is speculation Trump’s second term in the White House may drive up inflation in the US again if he moves ahead with plans to raise tariffs on imported goods and slash taxes.
“Of course we expect the incoming US administration to bring a different suite of policies. And we are confident in our ability to navigate that change, as partners,” he will say at the Australian Institute of International Affairs.
Modelling undertaken by the Treasury department on different trade and tariff policy scenarios indicated there would be a “small” reduction in Australia’s output and additional price pressures in the short term.
Bitcoin reaches record high days after Trump wins election
Bitcoin soared to a new record high on Sunday, as the cryptocurrency continues to rise after Donald Trump’s presidential election win.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), The digital currency passed $80,000 for the first time in its history shortly after 12am GMT.
It has been rising since Trump won last Tuesday’s US presidential election over sentiment that he will ease regulations on digital currencies. Bitcoin reached $75,000 on Wednesday, topping its previous all-time peak of $73,797.98 achieved in March, reports AFP.
Trump was seen as the pro-crypto candidate in his battle with the Democratic party’s candidate Kamala Harris.
During his first presidency Trump referred to cryptocurrencies as a scam, but has since radically changed his position, even launching his own platform for the unit.
He has pledged to make the US the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” and to put tech billionaire and rightwing conspiracy theorist Elon Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste.
The previous Trump term saw corporate tax cuts that brought more liquidity to markets, encouraging investment into high-growth assets such as cryptocurrency.
According to AFP, in the run-up to the election, Trump apparently became the first former president to use bitcoin in a purchase, as he bought burgers at a New York City restaurant, which hailed it as a “historic transaction”.
Updated
From gold-high top sneakers to Women-for-Trump tank tops, iron-on “Fight, Fight, Fight” patches to a poster depicting a 19th-century cowboy outlaw, sales of Trump merchandise at the Trump store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, tripled in sales in the days after the once and future president’s landslide second-term win in the US election last week.
In a hard week for Democrats, the goods flying off the shelves added insult to injury as Scranton has long been intimately linked to Joe Biden, lauded as his home town and symbol of his affinity with America’s working class.
Store manager Thomas Rankin said he never believed polls predicting a tight race. Trump voters, he believed, had simply kept quiet because they didn’t want an argument. “A whole lot of the Democrat party, as soon as they got in the booth, went boom! They could see through the whole Democrat propaganda,” he said.
And then there were the rallies – Rankin, a former deadhead, said he used to go to a lot of concerts – and Trump had held hundreds with his trademark weave of folk tales, policy and political rhetoric.
“People travelled to them like they travelled for the Grateful Dead,” he said, and that’s what I did. He drew people in, just like the Dead. People had fun, but they also had an interest in what he is saying.”
Bitter truths were plentiful in Scranton, last week, as voters in “Scranton Joe” Biden’s home town broadly rejected Democrats’ proposition for a continuation under Kamala Harris.
Lackawanna county, which incorporates Scranton, lies at the top end of the Pennsylvania’s populous Route 222 voter corridor. It was once a Democratic stronghold but last week it swung five points toward Donald Trump compared with 2020.
Netanyahu says he's had 'important conversations' with Trump
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday he has spoken with US president-elect Donald Trump three times in the past few days aimed at tightening the strong alliance between Israel and the US.
“These were good and very important conversations,” Netanyahu said in a statement, according to Reuters.
“We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its components, and the danger posed by it. We also see the great opportunities before Israel, in the field of peace and its expansion, and in other fields.”
Updated
Trump’s White House circle takes shape amid fears over extremist appointments
Donald Trump’s second administration has begun to take shape amid fears over extremist appointments and how far right the US will go while Republicans control the White House and probably both chambers of Congress.
The range of names being put forward varies from members of Trump’s inner circle to the world’s richest man, tech mogul Elon Musk. Alongside plutocrats and technocrats are hardline ideologues on immigration and foreign policy and the controversial figure of Robert F Kennedy Jr, a leading vaccine conspiracy theorist.
On Thursday, Trump made his first appointment, naming Susie Wiles, a co-campaign chair, White House chief of staff. Hailing Wiles, 67, as “tough, smart, innovative … universally admired and respected”, Trump reveled in naming “the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history”.
The daughter of an NFL legend, Pat Summerall, Wiles has worked on Republican campaigns since the days of Ronald Reagan. But she faces a thankless task. Chief of staff is a hugely demanding role, both gatekeeper and adviser. Trump’s first four-year term featured four: Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows. None flourished. Before this year’s election, Kelly went so far as to say on record that Trump praised Adolf Hitler and met “the general definition of a fascist”.
Publicly, Wiles is a woman of fewer words. On election night, in his victory speech, Trump called her “the ice baby”.
The Trump transition team is co-chaired by Howard Lutnick, chief executive of the finance giant Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment impresario who led the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term. As ever, speculation is rife about top jobs. Given campaign promises including mass deportations of undocumented migrants and pardons for January 6 rioters, the role of attorney general is perhaps attracting most attention.
The UK is examining all possible options when it comes to the US president-elect Donald Trump’s approach to Ukraine, the chief secretary to the Treasury has said, as the UK’s chief of the defence staff said approximately 1,500 Russian troops were being killed and injured every day.
Whitehall officials are “considering and planning lots of different scenarios”, Darren Jones told Sky News on Sunday. During the US election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “within a day”, but did not explain how he would do so. His vice-president nominee, JD Vance, has been vociferously opposed to providing more funds to support Ukraine.
Jones said the UK would not be stepping back from its own commitments. “We don’t want any countenance of the idea that we’re stepping back from that. That’s why we’re offering them £3bn a year, which you know, in the fiscal context here in the UK, is difficult but the right decision for us,” he said.
“Officials will be considering and planning lots of different scenarios – as they would do under any administration – to make sure that the UK is in the strongest possible position.”
However, Jones said he would not commit to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by the end of the current parliament, saying that security and defence were a priority but that meant “trade-offs” in other areas.
Jones was also scathing about the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s offer to help the Labour government work with Donald Trump, saying:
The counterfactual here is that we do not have influence and we do not have relationships. That’s just not true.
I think [Mr Farage] should focus on working with his constituents in Clacton who deserve a bit of a full-time MP as opposed to a transatlantic commentator.”
Following Donald Trump’s decisive victory in this week’s presidential election, leaders of the anti-war group Uncommitted National Movement expressed their disappointment over the results, highlighting the Democratic party’s failure to listen to its base and prioritize progressive policies. Since the movement formed last winter, its leaders have urged the Democratic party to heed their demands of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to adopt an arms embargo on Israel, or risk losing their votes.
While a full picture of how Arab and Muslim Americans voted in the presidential election is still being captured, this election showed a shift among communities that had long formed the Democratic base. A majority of Muslim Americans voted for the Green party candidate Jill Stein at 53%, according to a nationwide exit poll of more than 1,500 Muslim Americans by the civil rights group Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), followed by 21% for Trump and 20% for vice-president Kamala Harris.
In Michigan, which has one of the nation’s highest Arab American and Muslim populations, 59% of Muslim Americans voted for Stein, according to the CAIR poll, while 22% cast ballots for Trump and 14% supported Harris. While exit poll data on Arab American voters is not yet available, a September poll for the non-profit group Arab American Institute found that they were evenly split between their support of Trump and Harris at 42% and 41% respectively.
Now, Uncommitted’s founders and supporters say that the election results reveal that the Democratic party has lost touch with its working class and anti-war voters. Their message for the Biden-Harris administration and Trump is clear, said Uncommitted leader and Palestinian American activist Lexis Zeidan: the movement is not over. While organizing for Palestinian rights under a Trump presidency will be an uphill battle, leaders said, they plan to continue mobilizing activists to apply pressure on the US government until it ends its support of Israel’s war on Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since last October.
“The results of the election are really unfortunate because, with Trump taking office, there’s a reality that domestically, policies are going to get worse, and people’s rights are at stake. And we know also for Palestine and the Middle East, it’s not going to get any better. It definitely didn’t have to be this way,” said Zeidan. “Dems could have been much smarter, much more strategic and they chose to stick with the status quo rather than listening to their base of voters.”
Judge set to decide whether Donald Trump's criminal conviction should be overturned
A New York judge is set to decide this week whether president-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star should be overturned in light of the US supreme court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
Justice Juan Merchan has said he will make his decision by Tuesday. It is the first of two pivotal choices that the judge must make after Trump’s 5 November election victory. Merchan also must decide whether to go ahead with sentencing Trump on 26 November as currently scheduled. Legal experts have said sentencing now is unlikely to happen ahead of Trump’s 20 January inauguration.
A favourable ruling by Merchan for Trump on the immunity question or a sentencing delay would pave the way for him to return to the White House largely unencumbered by any of the four criminal cases that once appeared to threaten his ambitions.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that it saw “positive signals” from US president-elect Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine, while warning it was hard to predict how he would behave in office, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The signals are positive. Trump during his election talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state media published on Sunday.
But Peskov said it was hard to predict “to what extent he’s going to stick to statements that he made on the campaign trail”.
Fema worker fired for telling Milton relief team to skip homes with Trump signs
An employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has been fired from her job and is being investigated because she told a disaster relief team she was directing in Florida after Hurricane Milton to avoid homes displaying election campaign signs supporting Donald Trump, conduct that the agency head on Saturday called “reprehensible”.
Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the federal agency, posted on X:
More than 22,000 Fema employees every day adhere to Fema’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors.”
She continued:
Recently, a Fema employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team not go to homes with yard signs supporting president-elect Trump. This is a clear violation of Fema’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.”
Hurricane Milton roared across the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida last month, crossing the state before reaching the Atlantic Ocean, just two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and then curved inland on a lethal path through Georgia and the Carolinas before dissipating in Tennessee. It killed 35 people.
The Fema employee has not yet been officially identified, but Criswell said of the actions:
This was reprehensible. I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at Fema and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.”
The agency has said it understood the conduct to be an isolated incident. The Daily Wire was the first to report on the actions of the employee, a supervisor, which it said it uncovered from internal correspondence.
Donald Trump’s former Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he will not seek to join the president-elect’s new administration but is ready to offer advice to his successor, including on how to strengthen sanctions on Iran and Russia and contain the growth of US debt, reports Reuters.
In an interview, Mnuchin told Reuters it was important for the Treasury to work towards strengthening US trade policy. This includes holding Beijing to its US goods purchase commitments in Trump’s January 2020 Phase One deal to rebalance US-China trade, which he said “they’re not living up to.”
Serving as Treasury chief during Trump’s first term “was the experience of a lifetime, and I’m happy to advise on the outside,” Mnuchin said on Friday. “I’m sure they’ll have a lot of great choices.” He declined to name any favourites.
Reuters reported on Friday that two prominent hedge fund investors, Scott Bessent, founder of Key Square Group, and John Paulson had emerged as the top contenders for Treasury secretary, and that Bessent had met Trump.
Mnuchin founded Liberty Strategic Capital, a private equity firm, after leaving office with investments from Softbank Group and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund.
A senior adviser to Donald Trump said that the incoming US administration’s priority for Ukraine will be achieving peace rather than helping it regain territory captured by Russia in the almost three years of the war.
In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on Saturday, Bryan Lanza, who has been a political adviser to Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, began to elaborate on the strong signals the now president-elect had been sending to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the campaign trail.
Lanza said:
When Zelenskyy says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace, once Crimea is returned, we’ve got news for President Zelenskyy: Crimea is gone.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s presidential transition effort said later on Saturday that Lanza had not been speaking on behalf of the president-elect.
Trump’s transition effort is currently vetting personnel and drafting the policies that Trump could adopt during his second term.
“Bryan Lanza was a contractor for the campaign. He does not work for President Trump and does not speak for him,” said the spokesperson, who declined to be named.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “within a day”, but did not explain how he would do so.
Russia is open to hearing Donald Trump’s proposals on ending the war, an official said on Saturday. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels”, according to the AP. He did not specify whether the communication was with the current administration or Trump and members of his incoming administration.
UK minister says using Nigel Farage as link to Trump is 'unlikely'
A British minister said on Sunday that the government is unlikely to ask the Reform party leader Nigel Farage to act as an intermediary to deal with US president-elect Donald Trump.
Farage is a friend of Trump and was at his election victory party in Florida. He has offered to act as an interlocutor between the UK government and the Trump administration, which takes power in January.
The Treasury minister, Darren Jones, said on Sunday that the government would probably reject that offer, reports the PA news agency.
“I think that’s probably unlikely,” he told Sky News, saying Farage, who is a member of the UK parliament, should probably spend his time with his constituents rather than in the US.
Farage said at the weekend he has “a great relationship” with Trump and would be willing to act as an intermediary for the government because it is in the national interest.
Governments around the world are trying to figure out how to deal with Trump, who has promised to increase tariffs and whose first four-year term was characterized by a protectionist trade policy and isolationist rhetoric, including threats to withdraw from Nato.
UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, delayed starting a recruitment process for a new ambassador to Washington until the result of the US election was known. The role will be crucial in the coming years in navigating the UK’s relationship with the Trump administration.
Here is a video report on the protests against Donald Trump in New York and Washington DC mentioned earlier:
Anti-Trump protests erupt across US on Saturday from New York City to Seattle
Protests against Donald Trump erupted in the US on Saturday as people on both coasts took to the streets in frustration about his re-election.
Thousands of people in major cities including New York City and Seattle demonstrated against the former president and now president-elect amid his threats against reproductive rights and pledges to carry out mass deportations at the start of his upcoming presidency.
In New York City on Saturday, demonstrators from advocacy groups focused on workers’ rights and immigrant justice crowded outside Trump International Hotel and Tower on 5th Avenue holding signs that read: “We protect us” and “Mr President, how long must women wait for liberty?” Others held signs that read: “We won’t back down” while chanting: “Here we are and we’re not leaving!”
Similar protests took place in Washington DC, where Women’s March participants demonstrated outside the Heritage Foundation, the rightwing thinktank behind Project 2025. Pictures posted on social media on Saturday showed demonstrators holding signs that read: “Well-behaved women don’t make history” and “You are never alone”. Demonstrators also chanted: “We believe that we will win!” and held other signs that read: “Where’s my liberty when I have no choice?”
Crowds of demonstrators also gathered outside Seattle’s Space Needle on Saturday. “March and rally to protest Trump and the two-party war machine,” posters for the protests said, adding: “Build the people’s movement and fight war, repression and genocide!” Speaking to a crowd of demonstrators, some of whom dressed in raincoats while others wore keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s deadly war on Gaza, one demonstrator said: “Any president that has come to power has also let workers down.”
Updated
More on Murphy’s comments today. The governor of New Jersey suggests his “gut” is telling him Trump could not pursue tariffs “against allies like the UK”.
According to the PA news agency, Murphy told Sky News Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips:
Do I believe it? I’m not sure. I think if you and I were sitting and speaking about the People’s Republic of China, I’d believe it.”
He added:
I don’t know that that makes sense – or even that he would pursue it against allies like the UK. My gut tells me no, but if I’m China, I’m fastening my seatbelt right now.”
The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, said he thinks president-elect Donald Trump may look favourably on the UK choosing to leave the “bureaucratic blob” of the EU, reports the Press Association (PA).
Asked about trade, the Democratic politician told the Sky News Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips program:
I have a gut feeling that he looks at the UK’s move out of the European Union which, by the way, I have to say was a huge mistake from my perspective.
But from his perspective, I think it’s, ‘you know what? These guys had the courage to pull out of this big bureaucratic blob. And I, Donald Trump, have some sympathy with the renegade who has courage’.
I think there’s some of that. I think that’s a card that can be played, and we’ll see.”
Scrambling to construct an administration in the wake of his shock victory eight years ago, Donald Trump looked far beyond his inner circle, and those who ardently embraced his agenda. Not this time.
The president-elect has charged Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend, and one of the few high-profile figures in corporate America to vocally endorse his campaign, with recruiting officials who will deliver, rather than dilute, his agenda.
The CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has made no secret of his plan to stack the new White House with loyalists – and keep out anyone who threatens to derail his pledges.
Last time around, Trump “picked unfortunately”, Lutnick told NewsNation last month, describing the hires he made in his first term as “freshman” mistakes. “He’s the CEO. Why would you pick someone who’s going to try to go the other direction? That would be silly.”
Lutnick, who says he talks to Trump every day, was on the sidelines in 2016 and 2020 when his friend won and lost the presidency. In 2024, he went all in – raising millions of dollars and loudly making the case for his ally’s political comeback
Trump “is going to build the greatest team to ever walk into government”, Lutnick declared to a triumphant crowd at Madison Square Garden last month, with nine days left of the campaign. As transition co-chair, he is in charge of that construction.
Trump says Haley and Pompeo will not join second administration
President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo will not be asked to join his administration, reports Reuters.
“I will not be inviting former ambassador Nikki Haley, or former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump posted on social media. “I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country.”
Trump is meeting with potential candidates to serve in his administration before his 20 January inauguration as president. Reuters reported on Friday that Trump met prominent investor Scott Bessent, who is a potential US Treasury secretary nominee.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, endorsed Trump for president despite having criticized him harshly when she ran against him in the party primaries, reports Reuters.
“I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations,” Haley wrote on X. “I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years.”
I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations. I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years. pic.twitter.com/6PhWN6xn1B
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 10, 2024
Pompeo, who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under Trump, had been mentioned in some media reports as a possible defense secretary and was also seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate, before he announced in April 2023 he would not run.
Pompeo could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Separately, Trump said the 2025 presidential inauguration will be co-chaired by real estate investor and campaign donor Steve Witkoff and former Senator Kelly Loeffler.
You can explore the US election results and maps below with our live tracker. It has breakdowns of votes by state here:
And the House, Senate and governor elections map and results can be found here:
Updated
The Associated Press (AP) reports that three other US House races in Arizona were too early to call on Saturday, most notably the first and sixth congressional districts.
Republican David Schweikert is seeking an eighth term in the affluent first congressional district that includes north Phoenix, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley. His challenger is Democratic former state representative Amish Shah.
The sixth congressional district race pits Republican Juan Ciscomani against Democrat Kirsten Engel, whom he narrowly beat two years ago. The district runs from Tucson east to the New Mexico state line and includes a stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border.
The US Senate race in Arizona between Democratic Ruben Gallego, an Iraq War veteran, and Republican Kari Lake, a well-known former television news anchor and staunch Donald Trump ally, also remained too early to call on Saturday according to AP.
Republican US representative Eli Crane wins second term in vast Arizona congressional district
Republican US representative Eli Crane won reelection in a Republican-leaning congressional district covering vast swaths of rural Arizona, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Crane faced Democrat Jonathan Nez, the former Navajo Nation president, in the second district race. Nez was vying to become the first Native American to represent Arizona in Congress.
In a statement late Saturday, Crane commended Nez for entering the race and thanked voters. Crane wrote:
I will continue using every tool in my arsenal to fight against the corruption and selfish interests of the DC elites to put rural Arizonans FIRST.
I’m laser-focused on working with President Trump to lower inflation, secure the border and return to peace through strength.”
— Eli Crane for Congress (@EliCraneAZ) November 10, 2024
The district covers much of north-eastern Arizona and dips south to the northern Tucson suburbs.
Nez said in a statement late on Saturday that he called Crane to congratulate him on a hard-fought victory. “Although we didn’t get the outcome we hoped for, the work we began together is not over,” Nez wrote.
Thank you, Arizona! pic.twitter.com/lBKNfJrv2n
— Jonathan Nez (@NezForAZ) November 10, 2024
Crane, a former Navy Seal who served in the military for 13 years, is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus and a staunch ally of president-elect Donald Trump, who won Arizona. Crane was among eight US House Republicans nationally who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker in 2023.
Updated
Trump wins Arizona, completing sweep of all seven battleground states, AP declares
Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona, the Associated Press (AP) declared on Saturday, completing a clean sweep of all seven battleground states and locking in a decisive electoral college victory over the Democratic vice-president, Kamala Harris.
Trump, who had secured the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House by early Wednesday, now has what is expected to be a final total of 312 votes to Harris’s 226.
The win returned the state to the Republican column after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and marked Trump’s second victory in Arizona since 2016. Trump had campaigned on border security and the economy, tying Harris to inflation and record illegal border crossings during Biden’s administration.
Trump has also won the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by winning six of the seven swing states – he narrowly lost North Carolina – and won 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232.
Trump also won 306 in his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton.
The Ap said Trump has won 74.6m votes nationwide, or 50.5%, to Harris’ 70.9m, or 48%.
Meanwhile, Republican US representative Eli Crane won reelection to a US House seat representing Arizona’s second congressional district. The freshman lawmaker defeated former Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, who was vying to become the state’s first Native American representative.
In a statement late on Saturday, Crane commended Nez for entering the race and thanked voters.
More on that in a moment, but first, here are the latest developments in US politics:
Protests against Trump erupted in the US on Saturday as people on both coasts took to the streets in frustration about his re-election. Thousands of people in major cities including New York City and Seattle demonstrated against the former president and now president-elect amid his threats against reproductive rights and pledges to carry out mass deportations at the start of his upcoming presidency.
Biden and Trump will meet on Wednesday in the Oval Office, the White House announced on Saturday. “At President Biden’s invitation, President Biden and president-elect Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday,” the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in a statement.
Republicans on Saturday appeared close to clinching control of the US House of Representatives, a critical element for Trump to advance his agenda when the president-elect returns to the White House in January. The AP reported that three US House races in Arizona were too early to call on Saturday, most notably the first and sixth congressional districts.
The president-elect has charged Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend, and one of the few high-profile figures in corporate America to vocally endorse his campaign, with recruiting officials who will deliver, rather than dilute, his agenda. The CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has made no secret of his plan to stack the new White House with loyalists – and keep out anyone who threatens to derail his pledges.
A senior adviser to Trump said that the incoming US administration’s priority for Ukraine will be achieving peace rather than helping it regain territory captured by Russia in the almost three years of the war. In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on Saturday, Bryan Lanza, who has been a political adviser to Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, said: “When Zelenskyy says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace, once Crimea is returned, we’ve got news for President Zelenskyy: Crimea is gone.”
An employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has been fired from her job and is being investigated because she told a disaster relief team she was directing in Florida after Hurricane Milton to avoid homes displaying election campaign signs supporting Trump, conduct that the agency head on Saturday called “reprehensible”.
Updated
