President-elect invited to Oval Office after US election win
Michelle Obama welcomes incoming first lady Melania Trump
Trump loyalists and rivals tipped for key administration roles
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2.44am GMT
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott told ABC Radio National that the US and UK elections and Brexit vote show that the non-politically correct don’t want to tell pollsters what they really think because they would face “excoriation.”
2.30am GMT
President-elect Donald Trump has made his first swipe at the political media in his new role:
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!
2.12am GMT
President-elect Donald Trump reports that he had “great chemistry” with president Barack Obama:
A fantastic day in D.C. Met with President Obama for first time. Really good meeting, great chemistry. Melania liked Mrs. O a lot!
1.54am GMT
Students at Cornell University held a “cry-in” after the election of president-elect Donald Trump, according to the Ivy League school’s student-run newspaper, where roughly 20 students met in the bleakness that is a November day in upstate New York to share tears, hugs and sorrows.
1.35am GMT
Donald Trump’s attorney told a federal judge on Thursday that he’s open to settlement talks in a class-action fraud lawsuit involving the president-elect and his now-defunct Trump University.
Attorney Daniel Petrocelli also asked during a hearing that the trial be delayed until early next year because Trump needs time to work on the transition to the presidency.
Related: Lawyers ask for Trump University trial to be delayed until next year
1.13am GMT
Arizona senator Jeff Flake, speaking with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd about the impending Trump administration, told the Meet the Press host that although he opposed Trump during the campaign, “there are a lot of things that we agree on” and that Trump has, so far, been “gracious” to his vanquished and/or conquered opponents.
“I think all of us who have opposed him during the process of [have eaten] a huge helping of crow already,” said the Republican senator. “I didn’t think that he would get this far, I really didn’t.”
1.11am GMT
President-elect Donald Trump has officially won the traditionally red state of Arizona, two days after election night.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Arizona two days after Election Day.
1.01am GMT
Former president Bill Clinton has made a quick phone call to president-elect Donald Trump, wishing the newly minted 45th president of the United States and his wife’s former political rival well.
“During the brief call, President Clinton congratulated Mr. Trump and wished him well,” an aide to Clinton told ABC’s Liz Kreutz.
Bill Clinton called Trump this afternoon. "During the brief call, President Clinton congratulated Mr. Trump and wished him well," per aide
12.45am GMT
Bygones, right?
I just met with @VP-elect Pence at the @WhiteHouse to offer our support for a smooth, seamless transition of power: https://t.co/yKj1JyiOD3 pic.twitter.com/3bFdQjuQ6K
Thank you for the invitation. I appreciated the warm reception by you and your staff. https://t.co/EyUEVRTAtj
12.41am GMT
Because it’s 2016 and thus forbidden for a day to go past without an open letter appearing somewhere, here’s another one. This time it’s written by a fictional character, if that helps any: Leslie Knope, the relentlessly positive public servant from Park and Recreation, played by Amy Poehler. Upbeat, yes. Positive: not so much.
I do not accept it.
I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the president. I understand, intellectually, that he won the election. But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in. I reject out of hand the notion that we have thrown up our hands and succumbed to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and crypto-fascism.
Related: Park and Recreation's Leslie Knope writes reassuring letter to America
12.28am GMT
Several hundred protesters are taking to the streets for the second night running to protest against Trump’s victory, though not yet on the scale of the thousands seen on Wednesday evening.
In several places, high school and college students staged walk-out protests. At Baylor University in Texas, several dozen students have gathered:
A sampling of the signs at #Baylor #NotMyPresident protest @Baylor #Trump pic.twitter.com/O9XlfMxqEI
Some of the signs at the Trump protest in Denver. Event will start at State Capitol at 5:30 MT. #kdvr #kwgn pic.twitter.com/sGlHPeE5fh
Hundreds at @OhioStatehouse for Trump protest. pic.twitter.com/gBkoxRj5t5
The crowd is marching now @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/OuPU4t4NJk
Hundreds of people outside the Humphrey School at Univ. of Minn. for anti-Trump protest: https://t.co/5OuvckchGx pic.twitter.com/YfDfuYqaKx
12.12am GMT
News that British prime minister Theresa May has finally had her phone call with Trump has certainly gladdened the hearts of some sections of the UK press:
Friday's Daily Mail front page:
Trump: Theresa is my Maggie#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/X6evxfUt7y
In the call, Trump made reference to the famously close relationship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher as a hopeful aim for their ties, a Downing Street source said.
Trump “alluded to their relationship as a way to underline that he was keen to have a good personal working relationship, too,” the source said.
12.01am GMT
Thanks to the magic synchronicity of Twitter, we can confirm that the vice-president-elect has spoken to the British foreign secretary, and that the “special relationship” remains … special:
Just spoke to @BorisJohnson. Discussed America's longstanding and close relationship with the UK. https://t.co/pxccvczzkE
Just spoken to US VP-elect @mike_pence. We agreed on importance of the special relationship & need to tackle global challenges together
11.50pm GMT
Edward Snowden has said he is unafraid of Russian president Vladimir Putin turning him over to the US as a favor to President-elect Donald Trump.
The national security whistleblower, speaking during a webchat from Russia this afternoon, where he has been stranded since disclosing revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance in 2013, said it would be “crazy to dismiss” the prospect of Trump striking a deal with Putin that leads to his extradition and trial.
Related: Edward Snowden not worried about Putin turning him over to Trump
11.20pm GMT
The first sighting of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after her concession to president-elect Donald Trump yesterday afternoon:
Margot Gerster went on a hike this morning to clear her head. Looks like someone else had the same idea: pic.twitter.com/TtDXXvrUhD
11.19pm GMT
Dan Roberts takes a look a policies that could be implemented under President-elect Donald Trump.
11.12pm GMT
Hope Hicks has not responded to any additional emails with questions about the president-elect’s status, schedule or whereabouts since changing course and saying he was headed back to New York.
If there is any other information that comes in, I will send it immediately, but otherwise I won’t have any further pool reports today.
10.52pm GMT
Little on-the-nose, don’t you think?
INTERIOR: WRITERS ROOM
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: "You don't think the eagles in Act 3 are a little obvious?"
WRITER: "Let's just see how it films." pic.twitter.com/CQyebLtflJ
10.36pm GMT
Former Vermont governor and onetime presidential candidate Howard Dean has announced via Twitter that he is running to reclaim his old position as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
The dems need organization and focus on the young. Need a fifty State strategy and tech rehab. I am in for chairman again.
10.10pm GMT
Video: President-elect Donald Trump appeared before the press to answer several questions this afternoon during a visit to Capitol Hill, and said that his first priorities once he is inaugurated will be controlling immigration, reforming healthcare and creating “big league jobs.”
(Or, possibly, “bigly jobs.” We’ve never been totally sure!)
9.49pm GMT
The president-elect’s staff has provided no information, despite being asked, about his schedule or activities since leaving Capitol Hill.
Today I was the pool reporter for the president-elect. The total information I received from the transition was 2 emails, 6 words total 1/
9.36pm GMT
This is the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime. Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard ... he connected in ways with people no one else did.
9.20pm GMT
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has announced that former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell will be in charge of handling domestic policy issues in relation to the upcoming Trump administration’s legislative and executive priorities in its first hundred days
Blackwell, who currently works as a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, a Christian lobbying organization that lobbies lawmakers against LGBT rights, abortion and pornography, first gained national attention in 2006, when he was running to serve as Ohio’s governor.
9.01pm GMT
From the president-elect’s pool report:
Hope Hicks sends the following update about the president-elect’s plans for tonight: ‘Now heading to NYC’
That is the full extent of what she has told me.
8.48pm GMT
President Barack Obama should urgently seek to impose constitutional checks on the US president’s access to “the most awesome assassination machine ever known to man”, a former state department official in the Obama administration said today.
8.38pm GMT
Cora Currier writes for the Guardian:
Audre Lorde once wrote that “poetry is not a luxury”, and right now it is a necessity. What kind of poetry can get us through a Donald Trump presidency? We’ll need satire and spitting vitriol. We’ll need rallying cries. We’ll need reminders of human dignity.
Each poet here has struggled with the relationship between poetry and action, with the question of poetry’s relevance in a time of crisis. Adrienne Rich said: “A poem can’t free us from the struggle for existence, but it can uncover desires and appetites buried under the accumulating emergencies of life.” These are words carefully chosen not for solace but for strength, poems that dip into the reservoirs of literature to find fuel for the day ahead. They are, to borrow from WH Auden’s famous poem September 1, 1939, “ironic points of light” that “flash out wherever the Just / exchange their messages”. Poems that serve as signals through the ages that good exists, and that someone is awake and listening.
Related: Words for solace and strength: poems to counter the election fallout – and beyond
8.31pm GMT
Very interesting quote from Gingrich today on the border wall. Throughout campaign Trump repeatedly insisted Mexico would pay. pic.twitter.com/qPgig2wSi4
8.27pm GMT
A US judge on Thursday tentatively rejected a bid by Donald Trump to keep a wide range of statements from the presidential campaign out of an upcoming fraud trial over his Trump University venture, Reuters reports:
The ruling came in advance of a pretrial hearing later on Thursday where lawyers for the president-elect will square off against students who claim they were they were lured by false promises to pay up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors.
Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, the students’ court papers say. The president-elect denies the allegations and has argued that he relied on others to manage the business.
Judge rejects Trump's bid to keep campaign statements out of upcoming Trump University fraud trial: https://t.co/c8DgxKS7G4 pic.twitter.com/lSuai8mO2D
8.21pm GMT
Here’s footage of the impromptu press conference, via the Huffington Post:
Asked about his priorities, Trump mentions immigration, the border, health care and jobs, “big league jobs.”
What are Donald Trump's three biggest priorities?
Immigration, health care and jobs. "Big league jobs." pic.twitter.com/tvuiwtNUk5
8.20pm GMT
Ohio governor John Kasich is praying for the success of Trump, whom he has come very close to openly despising.
Kasich outside WH now following Cavs event saying he is praying for success of Donald Trump.
8.18pm GMT
Trump has emerged from the meeting and started an impromptu gaggle with reporters that ended when he was asked about his plan to ban Muslims, CNN reports:
Trump ends impromptu gaggle on the Hill when asked about his plans to ban Muslims
8.17pm GMT
Trump is still meeting with McConnell, the press pool reports:
The President-elect is still in his meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which an aide said should last up to an hour.
The two walked by earlier, but have remained inside since. The Vice President-elect has already left the Capitol.
8.16pm GMT
Here’s a transcription via the Trump press pool of Trump’s meeting with speaker Paul Ryan:
Ryan repeatedly chided reporters for shouting questions --- including how the “wall is going to be paid for.”
Donald Trump had one of the most impressive victories we have ever seen and we’re going to turn that victory into progress for the American people, and we are now talking about how we are going to hit the ground running to get this country turned around and make America great again.”
Speaker Ryan, thank you very much. We had a meeting, I met with president before, as you know. I think we are going to absolutely spectacular things for the American people and I look forward to starting --- quite frankly we can’t get started fast enough.”
[Inaudible] “… Whether it’s on healthcare or immigration so many different things. We’re going to lower taxes, so many different things we are going to be working on.”
7.55pm GMT
The Obamas’ dogs got one whiff of Trump and ambled elsewhere.
Bo and Sunny leave the West Wing shortly after Trump's arrival pic.twitter.com/yD0BLp6Xbt
7.47pm GMT
Trump will stay in DC for the night, spokeswoman Hope Hicks has informed the media pool. But no word on whether he’ll stay at his new hotel on Pennsylvania avenue.
7.40pm GMT
Endorse.
Man, @AlecMacGillis is such a good writer & reporter. A compelling read on the Trump phenomenon https://t.co/jvwsVUDcit
And she [the heavy-construction worker] shared an anecdote that reflected how differently Trump’s comments had been received in some places than others. “I’m setting steel for this new gas plant…I’m operating a rough terrain forklift,” she wrote. “So today, I kept thinking about the debate and the audio was released … And I got underneath a load of steel and was moving it…I was laughing and laughing and one of the iron workers asked ‘what are u laughing at.’ I said ‘I grabbed that load right by the pussy’ and laughed some more…And said ‘when you’re an operator you can do that ya know’, laughed all fucking day.”
Just last week, I was back in Ohio, in the southeastern Appalachian corner. I was at a graduation ceremony for opiate addicts who had gone through a recovery program, and sitting with four women, all around 30, who were still in the program. Someone mentioned the election, and all four of them piped up that they were voting for the first time ever. For whom? I asked. They looked at me as if I had asked the dumbest question in the world. All four were for Trump.
7.33pm GMT
Look who else is visiting the White House today! John Kasich, the Ohio governor who never gave Trump the time of day and voted for John McCain for president and whose state was then won by Trump by almost 9 points.
That’s Kasich there at left. Oh yes and also that’s the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James, who campaigned a lot for Clinton, is in the White House today.
President Barack Obama greets the @cavs at The @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/A2TAqVbMUH
7.26pm GMT
What he said.
And when Donald Trump saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer... pic.twitter.com/l0PM8BA9cz
7.22pm GMT
Obamacare enrollments (or preliminary signups? it’s not clear) spiked after the election, the secretary of health and human services reports:
Best day yet this Open Enrollment. Nov 9: Over 100K plan selections on https://t.co/VvaQqwzQu6. Consumers shopping & enrolling. #GetCovered
7.18pm GMT
Now Trump and Pence and Melania Trump are meeting with senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill.
McConnell said yesterday he expected to work with Trump on filling the supreme court vacancy, on tax reform, on Obamacare and more.
.@realDonaldTrump, @MELANIATRUMP and @mike_pence tour the United States Capitol with @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell https://t.co/YdvlSoD9PK pic.twitter.com/esY6W7XFFJ
7.14pm GMT
There’s the Martin Luther King Jr bust Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office upon becoming president.
pic.twitter.com/5KL3Sq7HOp
7.09pm GMT
Paul Ryan can see Donald Trump’s hotel from
his house
the Capitol balcony.
That’s vice-president-elect Mike Pence and Melania Trump with them of course.
Speaker Ryan points to Trump’s hotel from balcony of the Capitol: “Yeah, that’s it right there” pic.twitter.com/DmpFrjU6gY
7.07pm GMT
Some initial footage, and the requisite “this meeting was wonderful” quote from Ryan. Developing...
Speaker Ryan on meeting with President-elect Trump: "We had a fantastic, productive meeting about getting to work." https://t.co/h67uBdUuxr
7.00pm GMT
Josh Earnest describes the Michelle Obama - Melania Trump meeting. They had tea, admired a balcony view and talked about raising kids in the White House.
How different than what would have come to pass had Clinton won.
The first lady hosted Mrs Trump in the private residence... for some tea and a tour... part of that tour included stepping out onto the Truman balcony... you’ve heard the president and Mrs Obama describe the quality of time that they’ve spent on the Truman balcony.... there was also an opportunity for the two women to walk through the state floor of the White House...
They also had a discussion about raising kids at the White House. The first lady’s two daughters spent their formative years here at the White House... After their tour concluded, the first lady and Mrs Trump walked over to the Oval Office and the two couples had a chance to speak.
6.56pm GMT
Obama on Monday called Trump “temperamentally unfit” and “uniquely unqualified.”
“The president’s views haven’t changed,” the press secretary says. But it’s time for a successful transition.
.@PressSec on Obama previously calling Trump unqualified: "The president's views haven't changed." https://t.co/vaiG5sJHiZ
6.49pm GMT
“The president’s plan to take a long vacation after he leaves office have not changed.” – Josh Earnest
Obama appreciated how George W Bush gave him space after Obama took office, giving him “some running room,” Earnest says. “President Obama admired that.”
6.48pm GMT
He doesn’t sound like he’s kidding:
If Donald Trump takes people's anger and turns it against Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans and women, we will be his worst nightmare.
6.46pm GMT
After dismissing the question multiple times, Earnest allows that yes, Obama may continue to think that Trump is unqualified to be president:
!! @pressSec on Obama calling trump unqualified: "The president's views haven't changed. He stands by what he said on the campaign trail"
6.44pm GMT
Further to our earlier post about hate incidents since the election, the Guardians’ Luis Echegaray flags a disturbing incident at Elon University in North Carolina:
Here's another one.
LOOK, AMERICA. LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING. What are you doing about this @elonuniversity? I demand you ACT NOW. https://t.co/kSQBRxTY4E
A hateful note saying "Bye Bye Latinos Hasta La Vista" was found in Kivette Hall Room 100 this morning at @elonuniversity. pic.twitter.com/xL2SCMdBhR
⚡️ “Day 1 In Trump's America” by @Incilinhttps://t.co/9zA39qSg58
6.43pm GMT
Earnest is asked about the anti-Trump protests across the country on Wednesday evening.
Reply:
We’ve got a carefully, constitutionally protected right to free speech... it is a right that should be exercised without violence. There are people disappointed in the outcome... but it’s important for us to remember that we’re Democrats and Republicans but we’re Americans and patriots first.
Related: US elections: protests held against president-elect – as it happened
6.34pm GMT
This didn't age all that well -- https://t.co/Ss864Ye1ir
Obama's response to @realDonaldTrump's mean tweet on @JimmyKimmelLive was perfect. More coming soon... pic.twitter.com/z4LHkdgYvY
6.31pm GMT
Earnest is asked whether Obama still considers Trump unfit to be president.
Reply:
The two men did not re-litigate their differences in the Oval Office. We’re on to the next phase now.
6.29pm GMT
Via the house speaker’s spokesperson:
The President-elect, Mrs. Trump, Vice President-elect, and the Speaker are having lunch and discussing the transition. The Speaker has also invited President-elect Trump to the Capitol after their meeting to show him where he’ll be sworn in on Inauguration Day.
6.27pm GMT
Press secretary Josh Earnest is talking about the big meeting.
He says he met Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks. “I had the opportunity to meet with her briefly – to meet her, I should say.”
The meeting might have been a little less awkward than some might have expected.
6.13pm GMT
Here’s some added color from inside the Oval office, via the Trump media pool, which Trump ditched again upon leaving the White House for his meeting with Paul Ryan:
The president kept saying, “tell me when you’re ready” to reporters, as he waited to make a statement. The president-elect looked around the room, and at the floor, his hands tented below him. The only senior aide in the room spotted in the room from the White House was press secretary Josh Earnest. Trump aides Hope Hicks and Jared Kushner, who had been waiting in the Cabinet room until the meeting concluded, were in place as well. Kushner took iPhone photos as they spoke.
Obama looked straight at Trump for the full statement, his hands clasped. He nodded at the end.
6.12pm GMT
Barack Obama: I just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with President-elect Trump. It was wide-ranging. We talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up the White House. We talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy. And as I said last night, my number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president elect is successful. And I have been very encouraged by the I think interest in president elect Trump’s wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces and I believe that it is important for all of us regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face. And in the meantime Michelle has had a chance to greet the incoming first lady and we had an excellent conversation with her as well. And we want to make sure they feel welcome as they prepare to make this transition. And most of all I want to emphasize to you, Mr President Elect, that we now are gonna want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed then the country succeeds. Please [indicates Trump should speak].
6.10pm GMT
Here’s a video of Obama and Trump’s full remarks following their Oval Office meeting:
6.09pm GMT
Remember Aaron Schock, the former Illinois congressman whose sketchy use of his congressional allowance and campaign funds was exposed after a reporter spoke with the interior decorator of his office who said she’d been inspired by Downton Abbey?
He’s been indicted.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense team says it's been told that former US Rep Aaron Schock of Illinois is being indicted by federal grand jury.
6.02pm GMT
Now to hatch plans with his Republican colleagues for next steps.
Trump is in a motorcade en route to meet with House speaker Paul Ryan at the Capitol Hill Club and majority leader Mitch McConnell at Capitol Hill.
5.59pm GMT
Here’s a media pool transcription of president Obama’s remarks:
We talked about some of organizational issues in setting up the White House. We talked about foreign policy. We talked about domestic policy. As I sat last night, my number one in the next coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our President-elect is successful and I have been very encouraged by the interest by the President-elect Trump’s wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that this great country faces. I believe that it is important for all regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges we face.
5.54pm GMT
More video and photos of the meeting:
.@POTUS to president-elect Trump: "We now want to do everything we can to help you succeed." https://t.co/fKeG1mxfRY
President-elect Donald Trump and President Obama pic.twitter.com/LYcDN8oGwP
5.52pm GMT
An amicable – if a bit stiff, and did we notice strained on the president’s part? – appearance before the cameras for the two men.
Obama says “I have been very encouraged by an interest in president-elect Trump’s wanting to work with my team around many of the issues that the country faces... it is important for all of us ... to now come together, work together...
Michelle’s had the chance to greet the incoming first lady, and we’ve had an excellent conversation and want to make sure they feel welcome...
We now are gonna want to do everything we can because if you succeed the country succeeds.
We had never met.. The meeting was supposed to last 10 minutes... I have great respect... it went on for an hour-and-a-half and as far as I’m concerned it could have gone on longer... we really we discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel.
Mr president, was a great honor being with you and I look forward to being with you many many more times in the future.
5.47pm GMT
According to reports and photos shown to me by a friend in the room, a grinning Trump patted Obama on the back as they got up to leave, though there was only one handshake between the two men in front of the brief photo opportunity.
President Barrack Obama w President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office, meeting each other in person for the very first time. pic.twitter.com/otRHzvRWaY
5.46pm GMT
You don’t see that expression on Obama’s face often.
BREAKING: Obama says he was 'encouraged' by conversation with Trump, calls Oval Office meeting 'excellent' and wide-ranging.
5.45pm GMT
5.44pm GMT
Obama said the number one priority was to ensure a smooth transition, so Trump could be a successful president.
“If he succeeds, the country succeeds,” Obama said.
5.41pm GMT
Obama and Trump talked about foreign and domestic policy according to initial pool chatter in the press room.
More to come....
5.39pm GMT
The Obamas canceled a photo-op of the current and future first couples outside the south entrance of the White House, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But we’re about to get photos from inside the Oval office.
5.37pm GMT
The media pool is going into the Oval Office now. That suggests a 90-minute meeting.
POTUS and PEOTUS were seated in the high-backed armchairs at the end of the room, as is typical for when the President speaks to world leaders.
5.34pm GMT
At least we’ll have access to the vice president? That’s pretty important, right?
Pence has brought a traveling press corps today. President-Elect Trump left his press pool in New York this morning. https://t.co/hRUVCzzI19
Pence has arrived to Capitol Hill Club for meeting with President-Elect Trump & Speaker Ryan. pic.twitter.com/YMkZ1dEsvG
5.31pm GMT
Still meeting. President Barack Obama and president-elect Donald Trump have been meeting for about 90 minutes now.
What are they talking about do you think? Is Obama lecturing Trump about keeping a cool head? Is Trump lecturing Obama about leadership? Are they comparing notes on what it feels like to give electrifying speeches to thousands of people across the country? Is Obama telling Trump about how much his hate speech wounds individual Americans and the country and world at large? Is he lecturing Trump on the constitution? Is Trump asking to “try out that chair”? Are they talking about family, about Vladimir Putin, about government surveillance, about filling the role of mourner-in-chief after mass shootings, about protocol, about climate change?
5.17pm GMT
Trump’s traveling press pool continues to track Kushner and McDonough.
Kushner, the scion of a New Jersey real estate empire that dwarfs Trump’s, was a key adviser to his father-in-law throughout the campaign. It’s unclear what role he would have in the White House.
McDonough and Kushner walked back from the lawn and across the Rose Garden at 12:07. McDonough led him up the colonnade, followed by the same group of aides who’d left them on their own for the walk. They entered the White House, looked up briefly when a reporter called out “Denis!” but did not respond.
5.09pm GMT
Here’s a photo of Jared Kushner and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough:
5.07pm GMT
Following his meeting with Obama today, president-elect Trump will meet with House speaker Paul Ryan at the Capitol Hill Club and majority leader Mitch McConnell at Capitol Hill.
Trump has been hard on Ryan, attacking him repeatedly during the campaign as a weak leader. Ryan canceled a plan campaign appearance with Trump after the emergence of hot-mic video in which Trump described grabbing women’s genitals without their consent.
5.03pm GMT
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has been offered a White House job, she tweets.
False. Could it be those "sources" want the WH job I've been offered? https://t.co/ZXJGUZm5Zz
Two sources say @KellyannePolls is saying privately she's reluctant to take administration job b/c she wants to keep running her business
4.57pm GMT
What are they doing in there?
Dan Roberts reports from the White House:
The press pool still has not gone into the Oval Office, which suggests the meeting is going on longer than some of us expected.
4.47pm GMT
From the media pool assigned to Trump which Trump has ditched, a sighting of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough was just spotted leading Jared Kushner and other Trump aides, including Dan Scavino, across the back edge of the Rose Garden. McDonough led Kushner on a walk down the South Lawn as the others dispersed.
4.40pm GMT
Here’s an interesting phenomenon. Trump supporters coming out of the woodwork post-election.
Maybe the sign instead of being an expression of support for Trump in particular is a general expression of patriotic hope for a steady future for the country?
I went outside to discover a Trump sign on my street, in a window that did not have that sign on Tuesday.
4.36pm GMT
The press pool is going in now, in the first sign that the Obama-Trump meeting is coming close to an end. The pool includes members of the separate press pool which has been covering Trump but has been barred for being with him since the election.
4.31pm GMT
.@BernieSanders tells me in an interview that he's backing Rep. Keith Ellison to become next DNC chairman.
the Democratic party should just do everything Bernie says at this point https://t.co/FxLmkXzmQU
4.29pm GMT
4.25pm GMT
The press pool has just been informed that in 10 minutes they will be going back to prepare for a “spray”.
What will happen is they will stand in a West Wing corridor, for what I guess will be 15-20 minutes, while they wait for the private Obama-Trump meeting to finish.
4.24pm GMT
A spokesperson for British prime minister Theresa May releases this description of a conversation between May and Trump:
The Prime Minister spoke to US President-elect Donald Trump earlier today to congratulate him on his hard-fought election campaign and victory. The President-elect said he very much looked forward to working with the Prime Minister and congratulated her on her recent appointment.
The Prime Minister and President-elect Trump agreed that the US-UK relationship was very important and very special, and that building on this would be a priority for them both. President-elect Trump set out his close and personal connections with, and warmth for, the UK. He said he was confident that the special relationship would go from strength to strength.
4.05pm GMT
He’s here, reports Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts from the White House:
Trump has arrived says White House official. This is the press pool waiting to go into the Oval Office to see him meet Obama. pic.twitter.com/j3GRHzcFQ8
4.02pm GMT
Police are investigating the burning of a gay pride flag outside a home in Rochester, NY, as a potential hate crime, TWC news reports:
Ventura said he connects this incident and another flag burning in the same neighborhood to the election. To help deal with what had happened, he joined dozens of others Wednesday night at the Gay Alliance LGBTQ Resource Center, where many were also feeling distressed about the election outcome.
A gender non-conforming friend was called a "faggot" last night by three men who told them: "It's Trump's America." https://t.co/ASNzu2KjYp
3.56pm GMT
As Trump meets Obama, Michelle Obama is to take Melania Trump on a tour of the White House and the east wing where the family lives.
This afternoon, vice president Joe Biden is to meet with vice-president-elect Mike Pence, a longtime legislator relatively well-known in Washington.
3.50pm GMT
There is not expected to be any live coverage of the Trump Obama meeting, but here is a live stream that may capture Trump’s arrival:
3.48pm GMT
Trump ditched his press pool this morning, in continuance of his late-campaign practice. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks told Trump’s pool that the White House would provide pool coverage of today’s meeting.
The White House press pool of course is at the White House, not with Trump. So that doesn’t make any sense.
3.39pm GMT
Take him to our leader.
Donald Trump's plane touches down in Washington as he prepares to meet President Obama at the @WhiteHouse #Trumphttps://t.co/EibdBHfxqy pic.twitter.com/5UsEiVDOAy
The last time @POTUS and the man who will soon inherit that twitter handle were in the same room -- https://t.co/xF0U2MJiCZ
3.37pm GMT
The Canadian government has said it is open to renegotiating Nafta – the North American free-trade agreement, routinely described by Donald Trump on the campaign trail as the “worst deal in history” – in a move that extends an olive branch to the incoming US administration.
[Trump also described the Iran nuclear deal and the Trans-Pacific partnership as the worst deals in history.]
3.30pm GMT
The president-elect is on the ground in Washington. No protesters yet at the White House in anticipation of Trump’s visit.
Trump arrives here in 45 minutes to measure the curtains and there's not a single protestor visible outside, just tourists and journalists. pic.twitter.com/1MyhLxN7Aa
3.25pm GMT
Amnesty International is launching a billboard in Times Square today asking people to to post selfies in support of refugees.
The billboard, by Amnesty International and media platform The Drum, hopes to challenge racism and xenophobia around refugees. The relevance of the billboard launching the same week that Donald Trump, who promises to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and tighten screening around Syrian refugees, didn’t go unnoticed.
Drum founder Gordon Young, who will be in Times Square to celebrate the billboard going live, today offered an open invitation to Donald Trump to attend the unveiling and show his support, “Congratulations to President-Elect Donald Trump. Now that he has succeeded, it is time to demonstrate how the responsibility of office can change campaigning rhetoric into real leadership. We invite him to extend an olive branch to refugees - Mexican or other”
3.18pm GMT
Every media organization is publishing its version of “how Trump won,” and this snippet from Time magazine is particularly interesting, looking at Trump voters in Pennsylvania:
Chris Reilly, a commissioner in York County, Pennsylvania, has lived in the heavily Republican area north of Baltimore for 28 years. On the day in September after Mike Pence spoke to some 800 folks in downtown York, Reilly scanned a panoramic picture of the crowd in the local paper and had a shock. “I recognized one face,” he said. That’s when the party stalwart knew something was going on.
Then, on a recent Friday, Reilly got word that the county had received 9,000 absentee-ballot applications in a single day. It had to mail them out by Monday but had no money for extra help. So Reilly turned up at the election office on Saturday to stuff the applications into envelopes himself. As he did, he noticed something surprising. The applications were running 10 to 1 male. And when he peeked at the employment lines, he saw a pattern. “Dockworker. Forklift operator. Roofer,” Reilly recalled. “Grouter. Warehouse stocker. These people had probably never voted before. They were coming out of nowhere.”
3.03pm GMT
Hillary Clinton is still leading in the popular vote, with 59,923,033 votes (47.7%) to Donald Trump’s 59,692,978.
That’s a pretty evenly split country, with just over 230,000 votes.
2.49pm GMT
The Federal Aviation Authority has listed Trump Tower in Midtown, home of Donald Trump, wife Melania and son Barron, in the no-fly zone.
The agency issued an administrative directive called a “Notice to Airmen” banning pilots from flying within two nautical miles of the geographical point located at 40º45’54” north, 73º58’25” west — that being the southeastern corner of Central Park, four blocks north of Trump Tower.
2.42pm GMT
As we prepare for President Obama to welcome President-elect Trump to the White House, let’s just enjoy this photo doing the rounds of social media of Obama’s staff listening to their boss make a gracious speech about Trump’s win.
2.10pm GMT
So perhaps Rudy Guiliani, former NYC mayor and one of Trump’s most ardent surrogates, won’t be Attorney General in the Trump administration.
Giuliani tells @mattapuzzo he doesn't want to return to government, but he and Mukasey are making a list of AG picks for Trump.
1.54pm GMT
From the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent...
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said Moscow’s emissaries were in touch with people around the Trump campaign during the election process, despite repeated denials from the Trump campaign that such links existed.
1.42pm GMT
Vice-president Joe Biden will meet with VP-elect Mike Pence at the White House at 2.45pm today.
1.14pm GMT
Thousands of Americans took to the streets in protest of the election of Donald Trump last night, chanting “not my president” and shutting down roadways.
Cities including Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia all saw large protest turnout.
As night fell in midtown Manhattan, people took over Sixth Avenue and marched by Trump Tower, carrying signs that read “Not my president”, “She got more votes” and “Hands off my pussy”, a reference to a leaked recording where Trump bragged that he could sexually assault women because of his fame. A number of arrests were made.
Protesters who had marched all the way from Union Square – some 35 blocks downtown – continued past Trump Tower, with a crowd congregating in front of the president-elect’s building.
Arrests. Ring made for disorderly conduct in front of Trump International Tower: pic.twitter.com/07PSZPhPhi
Related: Donald Trump's shock victory sparks protests across America
12.12pm GMT
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright has warned Trump against American isolationism, telling him the US must play its part in the Nato alliance.
Related: Madeleine Albright warns Trump against isolationist posturing on Nato
12.09pm GMT
Many Ukrainians feel they were let down in the level of support they received from the west for fighting Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country, but a Donald Trump presidency brings a whole new level of fear, writes Shaun Walker.
What really terrifies Kiev is the fact that Trump has hinted he could be amenable to the sort of Great Power politics that Putin enjoys: man-to-man summitry where geopolitical deals are struck. G
11.58am GMT
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called for clarity from on issues in which Trump’s campaign remarks have rattled Europe, including s global trade, climate policy and future relations with Nato.
11.51am GMT
A Russian diplomat says Moscow had contacts with the Trump campaign ahead of the election, AP reports.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency that “there were contacts” with influential people in Trump’s circle. “I don’t say that all of them, but a whole array of them, supported contacts with Russian representatives.”
11.40am GMT
The American Civil Liberties Union is trying to tap into anxiety about civil liberties under Trump to raise some cash.
Front page of the American Civil Liberties Union pic.twitter.com/pVLKnw3fOh
11.35am GMT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken of his determination to dismantle Obama’s flagship health insurance policy as soon as possible.
After speaking to Trump, McConnell said: “It’s pretty high on our agenda, as you know. I would be shocked if we didn’t move forward and keep our commitment to the American people.”
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