Donald Trump left Joe Biden a glowing farewell letter in the Oval Office in 2021, praising his successor’s devotion to the American people while still refusing to accept his own defeat.
Biden publishes the letter in full in his upcoming memoir, “Promise Me, America,” according to an excerpt obtained by The New York Times. The Times also examined a photocopy of the handwritten original. Dated Jan. 20, 2021, it was written in black Sharpie on White House stationery and tucked inside an envelope marked “To ‘46.’”
Biden called the note generous during his first week in office but kept its contents private for nearly six years.
Nowhere in it does Trump attack Biden or dispute the election. Instead, he reflects on the history of the Oval Office and urges Biden to stay true to himself and the public.
“Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote. “Largely, they did not change history, they were just swept along in its relentless tide. This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people.”
He signed off by asking God to bless Biden, his wife Jill and the country.
The tone is a far cry from how Trump talked about Biden in public. He spent the 2020 race calling Biden corrupt and questioning his mental sharpness. After losing, he fought the results in a campaign that boiled over in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, then stayed away from the inauguration. He still falsely insists the election was rigged and keeps blaming Biden for the country’s problems, attacking him at a rally as recently as last month.
Biden writes that it felt as though there were two different versions of Trump. One had shaken American democracy and never offered him the customary meeting between outgoing and incoming presidents. The other wrote to him like an "old friend."
A separate excerpt published Monday by The Atlantic describes a similarly friendly Trump when the two met after the 2024 election, with Trump telling Biden the pair would be good friends if not for politics.
The White House offered no such warmth Tuesday.
“Joe Biden should have heeded the president’s wise words, but instead he tried to destroy this country and weaponize the justice system against his political enemies,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said. “Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president.”
The book comes out Nov. 17. Biden, 83, said Sunday that treatment for his aggressive prostate cancer will limit his promotional appearances.