His exuberant speech came despite the fact that only Fox News had declared him the winner, with no other US networks having made the call so far.

As jubilant supporters cheered and chanted “USA”, Trump took to the stage at his campaign headquarters in Florida along with his wife Melania and several of his children.

“We are going to help our country heal,” the Republican former president said.

“It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before.”

US networks have called the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina for the 78-year-old, and he led the Democratic vice president in the others although they have not been called yet.

Gloom swiftly descended on Harris’s camp.

“You won’t hear from the vice president tonight but you will hear from her tomorrow,” Cedric Richmond, Harris campaign co-chair, told a watch party in Washington as supporters left.

In a further blow to Democrats, Trump’s Republican Party also seized control of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.

A Trump victory threatens to cause shockwaves around the world, as US allies in Europe and Asia fear a return of his nationalist policies and his praise of autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

But the US dollar surged and bitcoin hit a record high while most equity markets advanced as traders bet on a victory for Trump as the results rolled in.

In Monday’s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr. committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.

Trump said late Sunday night he planned to be present for the start of the trial Monday morning.

“I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,” the 77-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform.

This whole case is a sham!!!” he added.

In addition to this civil case, Trump also faces several major criminal proceedings in the months ahead.

He is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Washington on March 4, on charges of trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.

The historic indictment of the 76-year-old Republican – who denies all wrongdoing in connection with the payments made ahead of the election that sent him to the White House – is certain to upend the current presidential race in which Trump hopes to regain office.

And it will forever mark the legacy of the former leader, who survived two impeachments and kept prosecutors at bay over everything from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files — only to land in court over a sex scandal involving Stormy Daniels, a 44-year-old adult movie actress.

Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles told AFP she expects he will be arraigned on Tuesday next week.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed that it had contacted Trump’s lawyers Thursday evening to “coordinate his surrender” in New York — with the felony charges against him to be revealed at that point.

Trump slammed the indictment as “political persecution and election interference,” raging against prosecutors and his Democratic opponents and vowing that it would backfire on his successor, President Joe Biden.

Surrendering for arraignment over what CNN has reported could be as many as 30 counts related to business fraud would normally involve being fingerprinted and photographed, potentially even handcuffed.

In the Republican camp, Trump’s allies and sons denounced what they say is a vendetta aimed at derailing his 2024 campaign — while his expected challenger for the party nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, slammed the indictment as “un-American.”

Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said the indictment had “irreparably damaged” the country. Trump’s former vice president and possible 2024 challenger Mike Pence called it an “outrage” that would only “further serve to divide” the United States.

But the top Democrat Adam Schiff — lead prosecutor of Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 — called it “a sobering and unprecedented development.”

“The indictment and arrest of a former president is unique throughout all of American history,” Schiff said in a statement. “But so too is the unlawful conduct for which Trump has been charged.”

Daniels welcomed the development with her characteristic aplomb.

“I have so many messages coming in that I can’t respond…also don’t want to spill my champagne,” she tweeted while also plugging her #TeamStormy merchandise.

The sum, paltry to the billionaire real estate developer, is symbolically significant as the ex-president eyes the White House again amid a host of legal woes.

The Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp., entities of the Trump Organization, were found guilty last month of running a years-long scheme to defraud and evade taxes through falsifying business records.

They were convicted all 17 counts following a trial, marking the first time the companies had ever been convicted of crimes.

Trump himself was not charged but the verdict inflicted further reputational damage as he seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.

“While corporations can’t serve jail time, this consequential conviction and sentencing serves as a reminder to corporations and executives that you cannot defraud tax authorities and get away with it,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted the case.

The Trump Organization, currently run by Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Jr and Eric, hid compensation it paid to top executives between 2005 and 2021.

Longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison on Tuesday, and agreed to pay $2 million in fines, for his role in the scam.

He pleaded guilty to scheming with the company to receive undeclared benefits such as a rent-free apartment in a posh neighborhood, luxury cars for him and his wife and his grandchildren’s fees at an expensive private school.

The 75-year-old admitted 15 counts of tax fraud and testified against the Trump Organization as part of a plea bargain. He did not implicate Trump during the trial.

Trump branded the Manhattan District Attorney’s case a “witch hunt” and claimed that Weisselberg acted alone

West, formally known as Ye, had recently announced his presidential bid in 2024 following an unsuccessful bid in 2020.

On his Twitter page on Wednesday, the 45-year-old rapper revealed that he visited Trump at the latter’s Florida private club, Mar-a-Lago.

West stated that he kept Trump waiting, as he went further to hint at the subject of their discussion.

Running a Twitter pill, West asked his fans to guess what Trump response was when he asked the latter to become his running mate come 2024.

The rapper tweeted, “First time at Mar-a-Lago. Rain and traffic.

“I can’t believe I kept President Trump waiting and I had on jeans. Yikes!

“What do you guys think his response was when I asked him to be my running mate in 2024?”

This is coming a week after Trump also announced his presidential bid for 2024.

Trump had officially launched a campaign for his 2024 bid, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission in which he declared himself a candidate for the presidency and established a new campaign committee.

Trump officially launched a campaign for president in 2024, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission in which he declared himself a candidate for the presidency and established a new campaign committee.

Trump is expected to give a speech later in the evening at his Florida private club, Mar-a-Lago.

“America’s comeback starts right now,” the 76-year-old former US President told hundreds of supporters gathered in an ornate American flag-draped ballroom at his palatial Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

The voting will be much different. Are you getting ready?” Trump said.

“This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign all together,” he said to the cheering crowd.

Agence France-Presse reports that Trump’s unusually early entry into the White House race is being seen in Washington as an attempt to get the jump on other Republicans seeking to be the party flag-bearer in 2024 – and to stave off potential criminal charges.

Republicans are licking their wounds after disappointing midterms, widely blamed on the underperformance of Trump-anointed candidates, and some are openly asking whether Trump – with his divisive brand of politics and mess of legal woes – is the right person to carry the party colors next time around.

Several possible 2024 primary rivals are circling, chief among them the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, who bucked the tide and won a resounding reelection victory on November 8.

Trump, who lost the 2020 elections to Democrat Joe Biden after being impeached twice by the House of Representatives, launches his latest White House bid with several potential handicaps.

He is the target of multiple investigations into his conduct before, during and after his first term as president – which could ultimately result in his disqualification.

These include allegations of fraud by his family business, his role in last year’s attack on the US Capitol, his attempt to overturn the 2020 elections, and his stashing of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

With Trump now a declared candidate, Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, may be forced to name a special counsel to pursue the various investigations into the former president launched by the Department of Justice.

“Everyone wants me to run. I am leading in the polls,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with NDTV to be broadcast in full later on Thursday.

“In every poll, in Republican polls and in Democrat polls, and I will make a decision in the very near future, I suspect. And I think that a lot of people are going to be very happy,” he added.

The billionaire former reality TV star, 76, also repeated false claims that the 2020 election in which he lost to current President Joe Biden was rigged, AFP reports.

“There is tremendous proof, there is tremendous evidence,” Trump said.

The Republican has faced intense legal scrutiny over his efforts to overturn the results of the poll and over an attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6 last year.

Since leaving office, he has remained America’s most divisive figure, continuing to sow falsehoods that he won the vote.

He is currently under investigation for potential mishandling of classified documents, with the FBI raiding his Florida home last month.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the raid “one of the most egregious assaults on democracy in the history of our country”.

In a speech on Saturday in Pennsylvania he hit back at assertions by Biden that he and his supporters are undermining US democracy, calling Biden an “enemy of the state”.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment in a significant victory for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack, which is battling efforts by Trump and top aides to use presidential privilege to block testimony and documents necessary for the probe.

The indictment came hours after Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, declined to show up for a committee deposition after being subpoenaed, which could lead to similar charges of contempt.

Investigators think Meadows and Bannon could have information on links between the White House and the Trump supporters who invaded the Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the November 2020 presidential election.

Bannon, 67, was charged with two counts of contempt — for ignoring subpoenas to appear for a deposition and for failing to supply documents to the committee.

Each count carries a penalty of one month to one year in jail.

“Steve Bannon’s indictment should send a clear message to anyone who thinks they can ignore the Select Committee or try to stonewall our investigation: no one is above the law,” said committee Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney in a statement.

According to CNN, Bannon plans to turn himself into the Justice Department on Monday.

Trump wanted to invoke executive privilege, under which presidential documents can be kept secret. The inquiry by the congressional committee is trying to find out if Trump had prior knowledge of the capitol riot.

Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on 6 January as Congress was certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory after Trump refused to acknowledge losing the election last year, claiming – without evidence – that it had been rigged.

The inquiry is being conducted by a committee set up by the House of Representatives which is dominated by President Biden’s Democrats. The panel wants to get hold of phone records, visitor logs and other White House documents that could shed some light on the events leading up to the attack on Congress. The committee has issued summons to several Trump aides to testify before the lawmakers and Trump argues his White House communications were protected and as such should not be released.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the National Archives, the federal agency that holds the records, should comply with the panel’s request. In a 39-page ruling on Tuesday, November 9, Judge Chutkan told Congress that they had the right to see the documents, particularly as the current president, Joe Biden had agreed.

Trump “does not acknowledge the deference owed to the incumbent president’s judgment. His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,'” the judge wrote. “But presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not the president.”

As the former president, Trump enjoyed the right to executive privilege, she added, but the incumbent president “is best situated to protect executive branch interests” However, it is unlikely the records will be accessible in the near future as the legal battle is likely to wind up at the Supreme Court.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr Trump, said the case was likely to be appealed. He said Trump was committed to defending the right of US presidents to assert executive privilege and “will be seeing this process through”.

Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who is chairman of the committee, called the lawsuit “little more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our investigation.” Sixteen of Mr Trump’s closest aides, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, Stephen Miller, who was Mr Trump’s senior adviser, Bill Stepien, campaign manager, Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, and Michael Flynn, former national security adviser have been subpoenaed in the past two days.

Bennie Thompson said in a statement he wanted to know every detail about what happened on 6 January, and in the days leading up to it. The committee expects the witnesses to “comply fully”, he added.

Following the Capitol riot, Mr Trump was impeached by the lower house of Congress, but cleared by the then Republican-controlled upper house, the Senate, of inciting an insurrection.

The former US president testified at Trump Tower in New York City for several hours on Monday, and video of his deposition will be played before a jury if the case goes to trial.

Five New Yorkers of Mexican origin allege that his bodyguards assaulted them outside his Manhattan skyscraper in September 2015.

They were protesting after the then-presidential candidate said Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists.

During a speech, Mr Trump had said: “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.”

A lawyer representing his accusers said Mr Trump was questioned on a variety of topics – including comments at campaign rallies where he appeared to encourage security workers to treat protesters harshly.

Benjamin Dictor said: “The president was exactly how you would expect him to be, he answered questions the way you would expect Mr Trump to answer questions, and conducted himself in a manner that you would expect Mr Trump to conduct himself.”

Those suing Mr Trump want the billionaire to pay punitive damages, and argue that he should have known the security guards would act in a “negligent or reckless manner”.

Lawyers representing the former commander-in-chief had resisted having him sit for the deposition. However, a judge rejected their request because the allegations occurred outside of his time in office.

Following the deposition, Mr Trump said: “After years of litigation, I was pleased to have had the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story – just one more example of baseless harassment of your favourite president.”

The 75-year-old Republican is facing a number of civil lawsuits relating to his alleged conduct before and during his time in office.