Harris concedes 2024 election after Trump’s projected victory
Former top Trump official expected to lead transition team at State Department, sources say
Brian Hook, a top State Department official during the first Trump administration, is expected to lead the transition team at the department for President-elect Donald Trump, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Hook has a depth of knowledge about the State Department after serving in multiple roles in the building.
During Trump’s first term, he served as the director of policy planning staff from 2017 to 2018. He then went on to serve as the US special envoy for Iran from 2018 until 2020. Hook also served as assistant secretary of state for international organizations and senior adviser to the US ambassador to the United Nations during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Hook and the Trump campaign declined to comment on the matter. It’s unclear if the Trump team would use the offices for transition at the State Department.
The State Department’s transition work will be led by retired career Amb. Stephen Mull, multiple sources told CNN.
CNN has reported that representatives from Trump’s team met with federal agency transition planners last week to discuss “post-election readiness,” according to a White House official. But Trump has not signed critical memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Biden administration to unlock transition activities to ensure the next administration can hit the ground running quickly and begin to receive the information needed.
President Joe Biden spoke with President-elect Donald Trump today to congratulate him on his victory and invited him to the White House, according to a White House official.
The official said the president is also planning to address the nation on Thursday.
“President Biden expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasized the importance of working to bring the country together,” the official said. “He also invited President-elect Trump to meet with him in the White House. The staff will coordinate a specific date in the near future.”
Biden also spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris and “congratulated the Vice President on her historic campaign,” the official said.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and senior executives congratulate Trump
From CNN's Kayla Tausche
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, along with senior executives of the country’s largest bank, congratulated President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance — as well as newly elected lawmakers from both parties — and committed to working across the aisle.
“Our firm has a long history of working across the political spectrum and looks forward to engaging the new administration and elected officials in both parties,” the bank’s operating committee wrote in a message to employees on Wednesday.
CNN reported earlier that Dimon, a lifelong Democrat who raised eyebrows earlier this year when praising Trump’s policies, does not plan to join a second Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The chief executives of Meta, Apple, Google and other tech giants offered their congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday and expressed eagerness to work with his incoming administration.
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Here’s what they are saying:
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a post on X: “Congratulations President Trump on your victory! We look forward to engaging with you and your administration to help make sure the United States continues to lead with and be fueled by ingenuity, innovation, and creativity.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai congratulated Trump on his “decisive victory,” in an X post. “We are in a golden age of American innovation and are committed to working with his administration to help bring the benefits to everyone.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Threads platform and congratulated the president-elect, “We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country. Looking forward to working with you and your administration.”
CEO of Amazon Andy Jassy and founder Jeff Bezos also congratulated Trump on Wednesday, a week after Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, defended his decision to withhold his newspaper’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, asserting it created the “perception of bias.”
The CEOs of Microsoft, Intel, and OpenAI shared similar posts.
Changes brought by the Trump administration could impact the tech world in a variety of ways, from their ability to hire foreign talent to the antitrust battles many tech giants are currently fighting against the US government.
Harris's campaign chair calls on staff to begin the work of "protecting America" from a Trump presidency
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon called on her team to begin the work of “protecting America from the impacts of a Trump Presidency” in a message to staffers Wednesday following Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump.
She continued, “I know the Vice President isn’t finished in this fight, and I know the very people on this email are also going to be leaders in this collective mission. View this as the beginning, not the end.”
O’Malley Dillon, who managed President Joe Biden’s successful 2020 campaign and served as White House deputy chief of staff, drew a sharp contrast with Trump’s handling of the last transition, noting that Harris told Trump in a concession call that “she would work with President Biden to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, unlike what we saw in 2020.”
She expressed gratitude to the team for their work, offering her own assessment of the reasons behind the loss.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will address staff on a call following her speech at Howard University Wednesday afternoon, she said.
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