President Donald Trump, who spent years challenging his defeat in the 2020 election and insisting that Democratic forces had stolen the result from him, privately praised President-elect Joe Biden in a farewell letter, writing that he believed Biden “will be true to yourself and the American people.”
The message was among the items Trump left for Biden when he departed the White House in January 2021. Biden showed the note to several aides after his inauguration but did not allow them to read it. Later that day, he described the letter as “very generous” while saying he viewed its contents as private.
The letter’s inclusion in Biden’s memoir, “Promise Me, America,” scheduled for release Nov. 17, was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times. The Associated Press reviewed a photocopy of the two-page message, handwritten in Trump’s signature black Sharpie on White House stationery and addressed “To ‘46,’” a reference to Biden’s status as the 46th president of the United States.
“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.”
Biden was reportedly surprised by the letter’s gracious tone, particularly given the bitter rivalry between the two men. Trump had skipped other longstanding presidential traditions during the transition, including Biden’s inauguration and the customary White House meeting over tea with the incoming president and first lady.
Trump later said the decision to release the letter belonged to Biden. During a September 2023 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he called it “a nice note” and added, “I took a lot of time in thinking about it.”
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Elsewhere in the memoir, an excerpt of which The Atlantic published Monday, Biden described the profound damage he believes Trump caused, accusing his administration of seeking to “tear down institutions and inflame hatreds.”
Biden also criticized Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and his forceful reversal of many Biden-era policies. He described Trump’s “dismissive and destructive nature,” portraying his predecessor and successor as a leader “who seemed unable to tolerate the idea that someone else’s accomplishments might be worth building on rather than tearing down.”
Still, Biden reserved his strongest criticism for Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory. Biden wrote that Trump “led an insurrection” and that his “goal was to remain in power after the American people had voted him out of office.”
“What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten,” Biden wrote. “It should follow him to his grave.”
Asked about both the letter and Biden’s memoir, White House communications director Steven Cheung called the former president “a disgrace.” Cheung said Trump “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.”