US President Joe Biden spoke to the nation on Thursday in what was his first appearance on camera after Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris.
“In a democracy, the will of the people always prevails,” he said near the beginning.
Mr Biden said he had spoken to Mr Trump and assured him he would direct his administration to ensure a “peaceful and orderly transition”, because that is what the people deserve.
Mr Biden was subtly nodding to how Mr Trump, in 2020, refused to accept he lost the election. Mr Trump was re-elected this week.
The president reiterated that the US election system “is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent. And it can be trusted, win or lose”.
He closed by saying that defeat does not mean one is defeated.
“America endures,” he said. “We’re going to be OK, but we need to stay engaged.”
He had issued a statement shortly after Ms Harris delivered her concession speech on Wednesday, praising her for running a “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances”.
Mr Biden also invited Mr Trump for a White House meeting, and the president-elect accepted.
We must accept the results of this election.
Earlier today, I spoke with President Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I told him that we will help him and his team with that transition, and we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 6, 2024
Mr Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and Mr Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Mr Trump, his first public comment on the outcome of the election.
After a speech during an international conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, he said: “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Mr Putin and Mr Trump before the inauguration, given that Mr Trump “said he would call Putin before the inauguration”.
Mr Peskov has emphasised that Moscow views the US as an “unfriendly” country that is directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
Mr Trump’s impending return to the White House means he will want to stand up an entirely new administration from the one that served under Mr Biden.
His team is also pledging that the second will look much like the first one Mr Trump established after his 2016 victory.
The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to build his team before inauguration day on January 20.
One top item on the to-do list is filling about 4,000 government positions with political appointees, people who are specifically tapped for their jobs by Mr Trump’s team.
That includes everyone from the secretary of state and other heads of cabinet departments to those selected to serve part-time on boards and commissions.
About 1,200 of those presidential appointments require Senate confirmation, which should be easier with the Senate now shifting to Republican control.
Mr Biden, 81, ended his re-election campaign in July, weeks after an abysmal debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to serve as a credible nominee.
