US election 2024 live results: Donald Trump wins

Americans have now cast their votes in the 2024 election, with Donald Trump likely on the cusp of becoming the next president of the United States.

As of Wednesday morning, Trump has clinched projected victories in crucial swing states North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The casting of ballots across the 50 states brings an end to perhaps one of the most dramatic election campaigns in living memory, which saw a last-minute change at the top of the Democratic ticket and Trump survive two separate assassination attempts.

Here’s a look at how the presidential election certification process works:

Earlier this year, Donald Trump made history by becoming the first former president ever convicted of a crime.

Now, as he is on the verge of securing a second term in the White House having swept two key swing states, he appears poised to make history again: by becoming the first convicted felon elected to the nation’s highest office.

Joe Sommerlad explains what might happen next.

The scene outside the West Palm Beach, Florida convention center looked something like a cross between a crime scene and a carnival.

On a normally busy crossroads, not far from the bridge between the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach — the location of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence — and the more modest community of West Palm Beach, a mass of police cars, dump trucks and other heavy vehicles blocked the way to the convention hall, which was ringed by the kind of riot-proof fencing that became ubiquitous in Washington just four years ago after Trump fomented a riot after losing the last presidential election.

It was just after 1:00 am, and it was starting to look as if the most famous felon in America was on a glide path back to the White House. And while hundreds of his well-heeled supporters were packed inside the hall awaiting him, an impromptu vigil had sprung up along the road, with more supporters lining the grassy median, faces pressed against the fence, in hopes of catching a glimpse of his motorcade.

The crowd of roughly 100 people were so busy watching for the ex-president turned president-elect that they missed a bonafide MAGA celebrity as he walked towards the convention center.

It was Nigel Farage, the Member of Parliament for Clacton and the leader of the Reform UK Party. Thousands of miles from Westminster, Farage was in Florida to celebrate the return of his friend to the highest office in America.

Though he passed by the crowd of Trump supporters unnoticed, The Independent spotted him and quickly approached him to ask for his thoughts on the night’s events.

“I’m very happy — you guys got it all wrong again,” he said.

Farage wasn’t the only person to express some scorn for the press.

Although most of the reporters who’d come to Florida for election night were safely inside the convention center, the Trump campaign failed to credential foreign press outlets from a whole host of countries. As those television reporters stood on the sidewalk to broadcast, a man in a car that was stopped at the intersection began taunting them, asking if they were “crying.”

At just past 1:30am, Fox News called Pennsylvania for Trump, all but foreclosing Vice President Kamala Harris’s path to the White House.

Almost immediately, it began to rain.

World leaders have begun to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory in the 2024 US presidential election — even though the race is yet to be formally called for him.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called it “history’s greatest comeback”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it an “impressive election victory”.

In the UK, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the victory “historic” and said he looked forward to working with him in years ahead.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to work together “as we did for four years”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his “heartiest congratulations” to his friend.

President Joe Biden is set to become a great-grandfather for the first time, after his granddaughter Naomi revealed her pregnancy on election night.

On Tuesday, the 30-year-old political scion made the big reveal by posting a selfie on her Instagram story, shortly after the polls closed in Washington DC.

James Liddell has the story.