WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and the president Joe Biden as he began to convert his election victory into a government.

Trump kept a low profile and then stayed out of the public eye Address to supporters in Florida in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged Trump to concede the race and congratulate him, while Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys.

“President Trump looks forward to the meeting that will take place shortly and greatly appreciated the call,” said Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign.

Biden's chief of staff later Wednesday urged the Trump team to sign the necessary federal agreements needed to begin an orderly presidential transition, a White House official said.

A source familiar with the Trump campaign said transition talks to assume power on Jan. 20, 2025 have not yet begun in earnest. Instead, the president-elect was busy fielding calls from national and international leaders, donors and key supporters. Discussions about the transition are expected to intensify throughout the week as attention turns to naming an inaugural committee and a formal transition team.

Jeff Zients, Biden's chief of staff, contacted Trump transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon to emphasize the important role that agreements with the White House and the General Services Administration play in ushering in a presidential transition. The White House official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive transition planning.

The delay is hampering the federal government's ability to begin processing security clearances for potential national security officials in the Trump administration, which could limit the number of its employees who could work on sensitive information by Inauguration Day. This also means that they do not yet have access to 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 limit and disclose private donations. In the law, Congress set a deadline of September 1 for the GSA agreement and October 1 for the White House agreement to ensure that future administrations are ready to govern when they take office on January 20.

Lutnick and McMahon released a statement late Wednesday saying Trump would select personnel for his administration in the “coming days and weeks” but did not address the arrangements with the Biden administration.

“As he selects the best people for his team and selects the best policies to pursue, his transition team will ensure the implementation of President Trump’s common sense agenda from day one,” they said.

The White House announced that Biden spoke with the president-elect and expressed his commitment to a smooth transition while emphasizing the importance of working to bring the country together.

Biden also called Harris to praise her for her campaign. And Trump and Harris spoke in a phone call in which the president-elect “recognized Vice President Harris for her strength, professionalism and tenacity throughout the campaign and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country,” Trump said. Speaker Steven Cheung.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The president's office said he called Trump and the two had a “warm and cordial” conversation while also discussing the “Iranian threat.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had an “excellent conversation” with Trump, who threatened to cut off the steady flow of U.S. aid and weapons to his country as it fights Russia's nearly three-year-old invasion. “I praised his family and team for their great work,” Zelenskyy said. “We have agreed to maintain a close dialogue and advance our cooperation. Strong and unwavering U.S. leadership is critical to the world and a just peace.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also called Trump, as did the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, He spoke to the president-elect to “express the Kingdom's commitment to strengthening the historic and strategic relations between the two countries and wish the friendly American people progress and prosperity under the leadership of His Excellency,” it said a statement from the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry.

Trump made his first foreign trip as president during his first term in Saudi Arabia. He stood by the kingdom at the time, even as relations were strained over the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul.

The president-elect has since then vowed to bring peace to the Middle East At a time when Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and has recently feuded with Iran. Trump, who was a staunch supporter of Israel in his previous term, has not said how he would accomplish that.

Meanwhile, US markets, banks and Bitcoin All rose sharply on Wednesday, as did Tesla, owned by outspoken Trump supporter Elon Musk, as investors looked positive about a smooth election and Trump's return to the White House.

Trump potentially received more good news from this special counsel's message Jack Smith think about how to handle this two federal lawsuits against it The president-elect will be announced before he takes office in light of the Justice Department's longstanding policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, according to a person familiar with Smith's plans who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and under the Press spoke on condition of anonymity with The Associated Press.

Smith accused Trump last year plans to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election And illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The latter case had already been dismissed. But Trump's victory means the Justice Department believes he can no longer face prosecution in line with the department's decades-old legal opinions designed to protect presidents from criminal charges while in office.

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Miller and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Tom Beamont and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.