The former president stated in Florida he has ‘made history’ after winning the battleground states of North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
“Every single day I will be fighting for you, with every single breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that children deserve,” Trump said.
“And that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age for America.”
As Trump declared victory, the former president stated he would ‘make America great again’ as he sits just four electoral college votes from victory.
The Republicans have also taken control of the Senate, something Trump touched on during his speech.
“They were tough races… the number of victories in the Senate was absolutely incredible,” he added.
“It also looks like we’ll be keeping control of the House of Representatives.”
Trump also thanked his wife Melania, stating she has done a ‘great job’ and ‘works very hard’.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance has also been speaking to supporters in West Palm Beach in Florida.
“I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Vance said.
“Under president Trump’s leadership, we’re never going to stop fighting for you, for your dreams, for the future of your children.
“And after the greatest political comeback in American history, we’re going to lead the greatest economic comeback in American history – under Donald Trump’s leadership.”
One of the key states Trump has taken overnight is Pennsylvania, with victory there seen as the keys to the White House.
As Trump said during a rally in September: “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing. It’s very simple.”
An election official revealed to CNN that ‘at least 182,000 registered voters’ in Pennsylvania cast their ballots early on in the election process.
Although, they noted that was prior to the city picking up the remaining votes cast in-person, and votes made at drop-off locations are still to be collected.
In last two presidential elections, Pennsylvania has been considered the most likely tipping-point state and holds 19 electoral votes.
Earlier this year, the former US president, who is hoping to return to the White House with victory in the upcoming presidential election, was convicted and found guilty in Manhattan on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump had previously denied the accusations, which claim that the records were linked to a hush money payment to adult film star, Stormy Daniels, by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
After his guilty verdict by a jury, he described the trial as a ‘disgrace’ and ‘rigged’ and that he was an ‘innocent man’.
But while he hopes to be president-elect in the coming weeks, Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26.
Many believed that his conviction may make it difficult for the businessman to vote in the election today (5 November) as Florida generally makes it tricky for people in the state with felony convictions to vote.
However, this doesn’t appear to be the case for Trump.
Donald Trump cast his vote in Palm Beach, Florida (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
According to CNN, there is a bit of a loophole in the system as under Florida law, if a voter received the conviction in another state, then Florida will defer to that state’s law on voting with a felony conviction.
Well, a New York 2021 law permits individuals with felony convictions to vote upon numerous situations, including restoration of voting right upon release from incarceration, and if they are not incarcerated, then they are still eligible to vote, the New York State of Board Elections states.
Blair Bowie, director of the Campaign Legal Center’s Restore Your Vote project, told CNN: “Florida is really behind in terms of its laws.”
However, because of Trump’s conviction in another state, he’s been able to scoot around it – though others aren’t so fortunate as Floridian law prohibits those convicted of felonies from voting unless their right to vote has been restored by the State Clemency Board, as per Florida Division of Elections.
“Bottom line is, it should be this easy for everyone, not just Trump,” Bowie added.
The law means the former president can vote despite being a convicted felon (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
While Americans head to the polls to decide who they want as their next president, you may have noticed Trump is looking ‘much more orange’ than normal.
And if you’ve had that assumption, then you certainly won’t be the only one.
Celebrity makeup artist Safia Cox told the Mirror why she thinks that is, saying: “I think he uses some sort of fake tan or tinted moisturiser with a bronzer. I 100% do not think it’s sun beds as it would be a completely different tone.
“I think it’s some sort of fake tan or some sort of tinted moisturizer with bronzer, and he’s then used powder with it. It’s definitely some sort of cream product that he uses and has probably mattified it after because it’s so orange.”
Routh is the suspect who camped outside of Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on September 15, armed with a rifle allegedly intended for the former president.
Per CNN, prosecutors told a federal magistrate judge on Monday (September 23) that Routh allegedly ‘stalked’ Trump in Florida for over a month, with cell phone data allegedly showing that Routh was located at the golf course and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence for several days between August 18 and the day he was arrested.
Ryan Wesley Routh has officially been charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate (Facebook)
The 58-year-old was initially charged with two gun-related offenses, including possessing a firearm while a convicted felon and obliteration of a firearm’s serial number.
CNN reports that as investigations continued, Routh was also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, and the attempted assassination of Trump.
The outlet also reports that Judge Aileen Cannon has been appointed to oversee the case and that Routh’s indictment claims he “did forcibly assault, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with ‘Secret Service Special Agent #1,’ an officer and employee of the United States.”
Routh is scheduled to be arraigned next Monday.
Routh allegedly ‘stalked’ Trump for over a month (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Attorney General Merrick Garland shared at a news conference on Tuesday that ‘the attempted assassination on the former president is a heinous act’.
“I am grateful that he is safe, and as I said immediately after the event, the Justice Department will spare no resource to ensure accountability,” he continued.
Per CNN, Garland noted that information about the alleged assassination attempt was uncovered by investigators ‘in the last few days’ and was put into court records for Routh’s detention hearing.
He also addressed a statement released by Trump on Monday denouncing the federal government’s handling of Routh’s case and insisting to ‘LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!’.
Trump was taken to a safe area by Secret Service agents on the day of the alleged assassination attempt (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Garland clarified that the Justice Department will ‘seek to cooperate and get assistance’ from Florida state officials that is ‘consistent with the law.’
On the day of the attempted assassination, Trump was playing golf on the course when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel poking out from a tree line near the sixth green, per ABC News.
The agent proceeded to fire in the direction of the rifle and saw Routh fleeing the area and entering a nearby vehicle the outlet reports.
Following Routh’s arrest, agents found a digital camera, two bags, and a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope.
Trump was not harmed and was taken to a safe location by Secret Service agents.
Yesterday (September 15), the Republican presidential candidate was at his golf club in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Secret Service said that its agents, who were accompanying the 45th US president around the course, were making sure the holes were safe to play when they saw a gun barrel popping out of some bushes near the property line.
When it was spotted multiple agents began firing at the alleged gunman and are believed to have unloaded at least four rounds.
Trump was on the golf course when shots were fired ‘in his vicinity’ (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
The suspect then dropped his AK-47 style rifle, along with two backpacks, a Go Pro and fled in a black Nissan car, law enforcement said.
Multiple agents engaged the gunman and fired at least four rounds at him.
Following the incident Trump issued a welfare update to his supporters through his campaign, which released the following statement: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!
“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me.
“Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.”
The suspected gunman has been identified by the likes of CNN, Fox News and The New York Times as Ryan Wesley Routh, of Hawaii.
Ryan Wesley Routh, of Hawaii, has been named by media as the suspected gunman (Facebook)
The 58-year-old allegedly took to Twitter just five months ago, writing: “I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putins Black sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please.”
On Twitter in 2020, Routh expressed support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked President Joe Biden as ‘sleepy Joe’, according to Reuters.
Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on Twitter: “@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”
Donald Trump was grazed by the bullet earlier this year following an assassination attempt by Thomas Crooks (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
It is believed to be the second assassination attempt on Trump’s life in just three months.
On July 13, Trump came within milliseconds of death after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, from the slanted roof of a building just 150 meters to his right.
It resulted in the death of father-of-two volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, and critically injured two others.
The presidential candidate didn’t get away unscathed though, as one of the multiple bullets fired struck him, grazing the top of his right ear.
Crooks, a kitchen worker, was armed with an AR-style rifle when he was shot dead by the Secret Service 26 seconds after he opened fire on the rally.
Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be criminally convicted after being found guilty on all counts in his hush-money trial.
The jury returned its verdict today (30 May) in the Manhattan trial, finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The former president had previously denied that he falsified records related to a hush money payment made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election.
Donald Trump insisted he was not guilty. (Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images)
Even after the jury returned its verdict, Trump left the courthouse today still insisting he was not guilty.
He described the verdict as a ‘disgrace’, and said he was an ‘innocent man’.
“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump claimed, before going on to refer to the upcoming presidential election in November as he said: “The real verdict is going to be November 5, by the people. They know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”
“Our whole country is being rigged right now,” Trump further claimed.
“We’ll keep fighting. We’ll fight till the end, and we’ll win because our country’s gone to hell. This is long from over.”
A statement from the Biden-Harris campaign shared the current president’s thoughts on the verdict, saying: “No one is above the law.”
“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain,” the statement said.
Trump claimed the ‘real verdict’ would come in November (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.
“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power.
“A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, said the verdict marked what he described as a ‘shameful day in American history’.
Penalties for Trump’s conviction range from a fine to four years in prison on each count.
The former president is set to be sentenced on 11 July.
