President Barack Obama has yet to speak on the outcome of last night’s U.S. presidential election, but the White House says he has reached out to both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Obama, who campaigned hard for Clinton, is to make a formal statement later today at the White House. At that time, says the office of the White House Press Secretary, he will discuss the election results “and what steps we can take as a country to come together after this hard-fought election season.”
Obama phoned president-elect Trump early this morning, “to congratulate him on his victory,” the White House says. He also called Secretary Clinton and “expressed admiration for the strong campaign she waged throughout the country.”
Obama invited Trump to meet with him at the White House on Thursday, November 10, “to update him on the transition planning his team has been working on for nearly a year.”
Ensuring a smooth transition of power, the White House notes, “is one of the top priorities the President identified at the beginning of the year and a meeting with the President-elect is the next step.”
