Joe Biden has disclosed the full text of the handwritten letter Donald Trump left him in the Oval Office on Inauguration Day 2021.
Biden, 82, is publishing the note in his forthcoming memoir, “Promise Me, America,” and excerpts reveal a strikingly warm tone from a president who had spent months attacking him on the campaign trail. The letter, dated January 20, 2021, was written in black Sharpie on White House stationery and left in an envelope addressed simply to “46.”
Trump, 74 at the time, opened the six-paragraph note with “Dear Joe” and described the presidency in almost reverent terms. “Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination,” he wrote. “History resounds from every wall, every statue, every beautiful painting and every corner of this magical place.”
He went on to describe staircases, hallways and doors that each lead to “another inflection point in the glorious story of America,” and referred to “the titans who shaped the course of human events.” Trump urged Biden to “take a moment” each day to reflect on those who came before him, and expressed confidence that Biden would be “true” to himself and the American people.
“Your strength, your deepest reservoir of energy, comes from the knowledge that millions upon millions of people are depending on you,” Trump continued. The note closed with a blessing: “May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America!” It was signed simply “Donald.”
Biden had previously confirmed only that Trump left him a “very generous letter” and had refused to disclose its contents. The full publication comes more than four years later, as Biden promotes his memoir ahead of its release.
The private words left Biden with a lasting impression of duality. In an excerpt published in The Atlantic, Biden wrote that Trump’s letter and subsequent private conduct left him feeling “as if there were two Donald Trumps.” He described a “traditional meeting” in the Oval Office after the 2024 election where Trump surprised him with “a tone so friendly that I thought he might be putting me on.”
“You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends,” Trump told him during that meeting, according to Biden’s account.
The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, pushed back against Biden’s decision to publish the letter. “Biden should have followed Trump’s wise words,” Cheung said. “But instead he tried to destroy this country and weaponise the justice system against his political enemies,” He added, “Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president.”
The 2021 letter’s publication marks another chapter in the complicated relationship between the two men, who went from campaign antagonists to a peaceful transfer of power that notably excluded an in-person handoff. Trump skipped Biden’s swearing-in ceremony, flying from the White House to Palm Beach, Florida, rather than attend the inauguration. His supporters had staged an attempted insurrection at the Capitol two weeks earlier, on January 6, 2021, after Trump spent months claiming the election was stolen from him. During the campaign itself, Trump had regularly attacked Biden as “sleepy,” “a loser,” “very stupid,” “slow,” “crooked” and “impaired.”
Biden’s memoir, “Promise Me, America,” is scheduled for release in the coming weeks.