President Joe Biden called Donald Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him on his dominant victory over Kamala Harris and invited him to the White House.
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief extended the olive branch to the president-elect a week after calling his followers “trash” and just hours after being confirmed as his successor.
The White House confirmed that Biden and Trump spoke by phone and said the president “emphasized the importance of working to bring the country together” as well as a “smooth transition.”
It was a similar tone emphasized when Kamala Harris spoke by phone with the 78-year-old to concede the 2024 election after Trump swept most of the swing states.
Trump and Biden frequently traded highly personal jabs during the campaign, with the Republican taking aim at the president’s decline and the Democrat saying he was the kind of person he’d like to “kick in the butt.”
Biden will address the country on Thursday about the election results.
President Joe Biden called his predecessor and successor Donald Trump to congratulate him on his dominant victory over Kamala Harris and invited him to the White House.
The president has previously said he will attend Trump’s inauguration in January, after the president-elect skipped his in 2020 and instead flew directly to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.
Some speculated and reports emerged that Biden harbored a bitter grudge against his No. 2 after she replaced him at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.
On July 21, 2024, Biden announced on X, after a month of pressure from his party, that he would end his re-election bid. He followed up with another post saying that Harris would take over his campaign.
With just a few weeks left until the Democratic National Convention, the Party had no choice but to accept the vice president as its new candidate.
Harris had a warning for the president-elect on Wednesday, lecturing him even as she congratulated him on a solid victory in the battle for the White House.
“He spoke about the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans,” a senior Harris adviser said.
The vice president, during her campaign, repeatedly promised to be a president “for all Americans.”
Harris will concede to the nation at Howard University later Wednesday afternoon, nearly 12 hours after the election was called for her Republican rival. Trump spends the day at his Mar-a-Lago home.
The calls came hours after Trump was declared the winner, leaving Democrats stunned and in a state of shock similar to 2016.
Harris’ concession call, which was confirmed shortly before 2 p.m. ET, came after Michigan was called for president-elect, giving it the third state in the ‘blue wall’ of states that would decide the election.
Trump’s team confirmed Harris’ call and said the president-elect recognized Harris’ “professionalism” and “tenacity.”
“Both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country,” said Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung.
The 81-year-old commander in chief extended the olive branch to the president-elect a week after calling his followers “trash” and hours after being confirmed as his successor.
Trump and Biden met on the debate stage in June in a performance that sparked the litany that forced the Democrat to drop out of the race.
Kamala Harris called on Trump, 78, to finally concede the election on Wednesday, hours after his defeat was confirmed.
“President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone today and she congratulated him on his historic victory,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
‘President Trump recognized Vice President Harris for her strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.’
Trump now has 292 electoral votes to Harris’ 224. It takes 270 to win the presidency.
Harris is on track to do worse than Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential election. He might even be on track for the worst Electoral College result of any Democrat since the 1988 race.
Democrats were counting on the “blue wall” to give Harris the White House. But Trump won three states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
With the swing states of Nevada and Arizona still up in the air, Trump has enough Electoral College votes to take him to the White House in January.
Any outcome now can only extend his victory over the vice president.
Nevada, Arizona and Alaska are the only states that have not been called by the Associated Press. And as of Wednesday afternoon, all three lean in favor of the former president.
