Although President Donald Trump was still publicly insisting that the 2020 election had been “stolen” and declined to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, he left the incoming Democrat a remarkably warm letter, according to Biden’s forthcoming memoir.
The New York Times reported Tuesday on an excerpt from Biden’s White House memoir, which is scheduled for release next week.
Biden reproduces the letter Trump left on the Resolute Desk in full.
“Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote in his trademark Sharpie. “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 added.
Biden said the message left him feeling “as if there were two Donald Trump.”
The note was written shortly after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Biden referred to that period by writing that Trump had “deeply destabilized our democracy.”
He also noted that Trump had “not offered the traditional meeting between Presidents.”
President Joe Biden revealed the full contents of President Donald Trump’s letter to him that he received on inauguration day 2021 (pictured). Biden has a White House memoir coming out next Tuesday
President Donald Trump (left) and First Lady Melania Trump (right) attended a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews on January 20, 2021 instead of attending President Joe Biden’s inauguration – yet Trump left Biden a gushing letter, Biden’s new book said
Trump instead became the first modern president since Richard Nixon, who resigned from office, to miss his successor’s inauguration.
In the letter, Trump wrote that he knew Biden would remain “true to yourself and the American people.”
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“Your strength, your deepest reservoir of energy, comes from the knowledge that millions upon millions of people are depending on you. Their ambitions and aspirations are the reason you are here, with so many counting on your success,” Trump wrote.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung cited that advice in a statement responding to the Times’ report about the letter.
“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,” Cheung said.
“Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president,” he added.
The cordial tone was not entirely out of character for Trump. He was also friendly toward Biden when their roles were reversed on Inauguration Day 2025, when Trump returned to the White House and Biden attended the ceremony.
In Retribution, a book by ABC’s Jonathan Karl that was shared with the Daily Mail, Trump told Biden they would have been “great friends” if politics had not intervened.
Former First Lady Melania Trump (left) and President Donald Trump (right) arrive in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 20, 2021, after skipping President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Trump was the first modern President since Richard Nixon to skip a successor’s swearing-in
When Trump returned to the White House four years after leaving it, he described the Bidens as a “beautiful couple.”
He also urged Biden to “stay in touch.”
“Let me know if there is anything you need,” the incoming Republican president said before Biden and outgoing first lady Jill Biden boarded the presidential helicopter.
Since then, Trump has continued to criticize Biden, falsely claim that the 2020 election was “rigged,” and display a picture of an autopen near the White House Rose Garden instead of a portrait of the Democrat.
Biden’s memoir, Promise Me, America, will be published next Tuesday.