Congratulations, Trump Says, but Not to Biden

President Trump had no public appearances scheduled Tuesday before the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey in the afternoon, but events changed that. With only moments' notice, the president walked into the White House briefing room to make the announcement, the Hill reports. "The stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 30,000, which is the highest in history," he said. "We’ve never broken 30,000, and that’s despite everything that’s taken place with the pandemic." Trump made no mention of President-elect Joe Biden, or the transition that he cleared to go ahead the night before. "I just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that work so hard, and most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country," he said.

Trump took no questions, and he was only in the room for about a minute. He's repeatedly said that the economy would "crash" if Biden were to be elected, CNBC points out. Instead, hours after it was announced that the transition would begin and word spread that Biden wants Janet Yellen as his Treasury secretary, per NBC, the Dow hit what Trump called "a sacred number." No one who accompanied him to the briefing room, including Vice President Mike Pence, answered questions called out by reporters, either. The president hasn't taken any questions from reporters since Election Day. (More Dow Jones stories.)