Joe Biden has revealed the contents of the handwritten letter Donald Trump left for him in the Oval Office in January 2021, publishing it in his forthcoming White House memoir, "Promise Me, America," due out on November 17. The New York Times first reported the letter's inclusion on Tuesday, and the Associated Press says it has reviewed a photocopy of the original.
The two-page note, written in Trump's trademark black Sharpie on White House stationery and left in an envelope addressed "To '46,'" is strikingly warm from a man who spent years disputing his 2020 defeat and publicly calling the result stolen. "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."
Trump also wrote: "You now have the opportunity to choose your place in history, and I know you will be true to yourself and the American people." Biden showed the note to some members of his staff after his inauguration on January 20, 2021, but let no one read it, describing it later that day as "very generous" but otherwise saying he considered it private. In the memoir, Biden writes that he struggled to reconcile the warm words with Trump's public conduct: "It was as if there were two Donald Trumps."
Trump has said he thought it was up to Biden to share the letter, calling it "a nice note" during a September 2023 interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" and adding, "I took a lot of time in thinking about it." Trump also skipped other presidential transition traditions, declining to attend Biden's inauguration or host the incoming president and first lady for tea at the White House.
The memoir's first excerpt, published Monday by The Atlantic, is far harsher. Biden writes that Trump "led an insurrection" and that what he did on January 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify the 2020 election, "should never be forgotten." "It should follow him to his grave," Biden wrote. He also criticizes Trump's Department of Government Efficiency and his aggressive reversal of Biden-era policies, describing a "dismissive and destructive nature."
Asked for comment on both the letter and the memoir, White House communications director Steven Cheung did not deny the letter's authenticity, calling the former president "a disgrace" who "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." Biden, 83, has said his ongoing treatment for prostate cancer will limit his activities promoting the book.
