Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some very compelling stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
The Justice Department makes a critical announcement regarding its case against President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris makes a phone call to the winner of Tuesday night’s consequential election, and a former president of the United States congratulates Trump on his big victory.
Also, the president-elect pulls off a surprising upset in a Texas border county, and Wall Street is booming after the big election—we’ll tell you what you need to know.
DOJ Responds to Whether to Continue Prosecution of Trump
A spokesman for Smith’s office declined to comment on whether or not the DOJ will drop its cases against Trump. However, he directed The Epoch Times to a memo from the year 2000, which says that the “indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President” would undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.Following Trump’s victory in the election, many leading Republicans, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, called on the DOJ and a number of local district attorneys to end their prosecutions of the president-elect.
So you know, Trump is slated to appear before a New York judge later this month to face sentencing after he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to payments he made during the 2016 election.
However, with the election result, it’s not clear whether or not Trump will be sentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents should have some degree of immunity from prosecution for official acts.
Trump faces charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election results, and he also faces federal criminal charges over his alleged activity following the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach.
A separate case that was brought by Smith in Florida over Trump’s handling of classified documents was dismissed earlier this year by a federal judge. The special counsel has appealed that decision.
By the way, when Trump officially takes office, he could use his presidential authority to dismiss the two federal cases against him. However, he has less latitude in dealing with the cases brought against him in both New York City and Georgia.
Harris Concedes to Trump
The vice president told supporters in a concession speech at her alma mater Howard University in Washington that she called Trump to congratulate him and to concede the presidential race.Harris said that during the call, she discussed the importance of the peaceful transfer of power with Trump, who became the projected winner of the presidential race at around 5:30 yesterday morning.
A few hours earlier, Harris had declined to speak to her supporters, who had gathered for a watch party at Howard University.
However, around 1 a.m. Eastern Time, some of Harris’s surrogates, including businessman Mark Cuban, offered congratulations to Trump after the key state of Pennsylvania was called for the former president.
By the way, during the concession speech, Harris thanked her supporters and urged them to continue to fight for freedom.
The Trump campaign also confirmed the call happened, saying that Trump acknowledged Harris on her “strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign,” and they both “agreed on the importance of unifying the country.”
Early yesterday morning, Trump told a number of supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, that his win was a “victory for the American people” that will “allow us to make America great again.”
He later added that it’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us, that it’s time to unite, and that “success will bring us together.”
George W. Bush Responds to Trump’s Win
Former President George W. Bush congratulated Trump on his election victory, and he said in a published statement that the “strong turnout” by people who voted is a sign of “the health of our republic and the strength of our democratic institutions.”Bush and his wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, said they were grateful for all of the “election officials, poll workers, and volunteers who oversaw a free, fair, safe, and secure election.”
The former commander-in-chief added that he and his wife were “praying for the success” of the country’s new leaders at all levels of government, and he thanked both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “for their service to our country.”
So you know, Bush did not endorse any candidate in the 2024 election, despite calls from former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican and the daughter of his former vice president, to back Harris for the nation’s top office.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, along with Bush’s daughter, Barbara Pierce Bush, also endorsed Harris.
Yesterday, Liz Cheney wrote on social media that Americans should accept Trump’s win and that “our nation’s Democratic systems functioned” during the election. She also said that citizens across the country, the courts, the members of the press, and people serving at all levels of government must now be “the guardrails of democracy.”
Trump Flips Texas Border County
Trump flipped a Texas border county that has not been won by a Republican candidate since the late 19th century.With nearly all of the votes counted in the Lone Star State, The Associated Press projects that Starr County went in favor of Trump by more than 57 percent, ending a more than 120-year streak.
U.S. Census Bureau data show that about 97 percent of the county’s population is considered either Hispanic or Latino, and according to the Cook Political Report, the county has not backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1892.
Starr County has a population of around 66,000 people, and in the past two presidential elections, they voted for the Democratic candidate by a significant margin.
You should know that most of the other Texas counties located along the U.S.–Mexico border voted in favor of Trump, including Hidalgo County, which is a key illegal border crossing area.
Voting data show that only the Texas border counties of El Paso and Presidio voted in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump during Tuesday’s election.
In all, Trump won the entire state of Texas and its 40 electoral votes by close to a 14-point margin over Harris.
Immigration was a major issue that helped Trump win his first presidential term in 2016, and this time around, the president-elect has vowed to curb illegal immigration and bolster security along the U.S.–Mexico border, by using the National Guard and federal law enforcement officials.
During this campaign season, both he and Vice President-elect JD Vance have proposed a significant mass deportation plan that would first target criminal illegal immigrants, and both have said that illegal immigration is out of control and unsustainable.
Wall Street Rockets After Trump Wins
The markets on Wall Street were bullish after President-elect Donald Trump decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris on election night.In the post-election aftermath, the leading stock market indexes extended their overnight rally, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which surged by around 1,200 points.
Both the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index and the benchmark S&P 500 also picked up significant gains.
By the way, the stock for Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the social media platform Truth Social, also climbed, and year to date, it’s gone up by more than 100 percent.
Trump is the dominant shareholder with nearly 115 million shares, and right now, they’re worth more than $5 billion.
Tesla Motors is also up by more than 10 percent, and that’s because traders bet that Trump’s victory will benefit the industrialist Elon Musk, who owns a large stake in the company. One financial analyst believes that the electric vehicle organization might even reach a market value of more than $1 trillion under the Trump presidency.
By the way, Trump has pledged that Musk will lead a new commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, which will combat “fraud and improper payments.”
You should know that clean energy stocks dipped on fears that Trump and Republican lawmakers will reduce a number of tax credits, grants, and other subsidies for businesses and households that aim to tackle climate issues. Stocks for discount retailers also dropped, due to concerns that Trump will impose universal tariffs on all imports.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Thursday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from tennis legend Serena Williams, who said: “We’re strongest when we cheer each other on.”
Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your day, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
