Vice President Kamala Harris called President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to congratulate him on the victory and concede.
According to Wall Street Journal White House correspondent Ken Thomas, Harris emphasized the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans.
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign communications director, confirmed the two spoke, telling HuffPost in an emailed statement that Trump acknowledged Harris’ “strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.”
President Joe Biden called Trump on Wednesday and invited him to the White House for a transition meeting, according to The Associated Press.
Both Harris and Biden are also expected to make public remarks about the election results, with Harris speaking this afternoon and Biden addressing the nation tomorrow.
Trump never conceded the 2020 election and refused to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration, instead directing a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol in his last days in office with the intent of overturning the results of the election.
In an email to campaign staffers Wednesday, Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon acknowledged the particular sting of the loss ― but encouraged people not to relinquish the fight.
“Losing is unfathomably painful. It is hard. This will take a long time to process,” she wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
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“But the work of protecting America from the impact of a Trump Presidency starts now,” she continued.
“View this as the beginning, not the end. It will be hard work. But as the boss says: hard work is good work. And I look forward to standing beside you.”