Donald Trump has spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government.
He was keeping a low profile, staying out of the public eye after addressing supporters in Florida during the early hours of Wednesday.
Vice president Kamala Harris called Mr Trump to concede the race and to congratulate him, while Mr Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys.
Mr Biden’s chief of of staff later nudged the Trump team to sign the federal agreements necessary to begin an orderly presidential transition, a White House official said.
A source with knowledge of the Trump campaign said transition talks to take over power on January 20 had not begun in earnest.
Instead, the president-elect was busy taking calls from leaders, domestic and international, donors and key supporters.
Transition discussions are expected to ramp up later in the week as attention turns to naming an inaugural committee and a formal transition team.
Mr Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients contacted Trump transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon to reiterate the important role the agreements with the White House and the General Services Administration play in beginning a presidential transition.
The delay is holding up the federal government’s ability to begin processing security clearances for potential Trump administration national security appointees, which could limit the number of his staff who could work on sensitive information by Inauguration Day.
It also means they cannot yet access federal facilities, documents and personnel to prepare for taking office.
The agreements are required by the Presidential Transition Act, and require the president-elect’s team to agree to an ethics plan and to limit and disclose private donations.
Congress, in the Act, set a deadline of September 1 for the GSA agreement and October 1 for the White House agreement, in an effort to ensure that incoming administrations are prepared to govern when they enter office on January 20.
The White House announced that Mr Biden had spoken to the president-elect and expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition, while emphasising the importance of working to bring the country together.
Mr Biden also called Ms Harris to salute her for her campaign, and Mr Trump and Ms Harris spoke on a call where the president-elect acknowledged her “strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country”, according to Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.
