President-elect Donald J. Trump faced key personnel choices on Wednesday in the wake of his victory as he fielded a concession call from Vice President Kamala Harris and congratulatory messages from foreign leaders.
Mr. Trump spoke with his defeated opponent in the afternoon as his aides met at a campaign headquarters that was transformed into a transition office.
“President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country,” Steven Cheung, the campaign communications director, said in a statement.
Mr. Trump also took a call from President Biden, who proposed a meeting about the transition of power. It was a stark contrast to the tumultuous period after the 2020 election, when Mr. Trump refused to concede defeat, refused to cooperate with the transition and encouraged supporters to march to the Capitol for what became a violent protest on Jan. 6, 2021, that disrupted certification of the outcome by Congress.
And he spoke with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Netanyahu had posted on social media, lavishing praise on Mr. Trump. He called Mr. Trump’s victory “a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.”
A number of Mr. Trump’s advisers met at the headquarters where his aides had worked for months. While the campaign had named a transition leadership team several weeks ago, it had been working largely out of sight of the incoming president, who is superstitious and does not like to plan ahead.
The transition operation is expected to be made up of overlapping categories of people. They include Wall Street executives and people with ties to the traditional conservative movement, as well as the right-wing populist movement that has now powered Mr. Trump to two terms in the White House and the formerly left-wing populists who are now part of Mr. Trump’s orbit, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained that his biggest error in his initial term in office was not being more rigorous about the people chosen as his aides, and that he was sold on people who turned out to be “disloyal.” He has rarely blamed himself for the choices he made.
Key in the coming days will be the focus on whom Mr. Trump will choose as his White House chief of staff. He had four during his first term, almost all of whom struggled or found themselves undercut by or clashing with Mr. Trump.
But they all had one thing in common: None of them knew Mr. Trump especially well.
The person whom most people see as the likely choice for chief of staff when Mr. Trump takes office in January is Susie Wiles, who ran his campaign for the last two years.
Ms. Wiles knows Mr. Trump well, and much of his political operation is loyal to her. Another potential chief of staff whom Mr. Trump had told people he was considering, Brooke Rollins, is disliked and distrusted by many on Mr. Trump’s team.
Ms. Rollins served as the acting director of the Domestic Policy Council when Mr. Trump was in office last time, but she drew a number of detractors internally. There was also a revolt by a number of Mr. Trump’s allies and advisers when it became public weeks ago that he was discussing her for a role.
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