Biden Publishes Trump's Warm 2021 Farewell Letter in Forthcoming Memoir

Joe Biden has revealed the contents of the letter Donald Trump left for him in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2021. The text appears in Biden's forthcoming memoir, "Promise Me, America," which is scheduled for release next Tuesday, Nov. 17. The New York Times obtained an excerpt and a photocopy of the original and published the details on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Biden had said before that Trump left a "very generous letter." Until now he declined to say what was in it.

What the letter says

It opens: "Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination." It goes on to praise the building's history and urges Biden to "choose your place in history."

One passage reads: "Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats. 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."

It closes: "May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America! Sincerely, Donald."

Nothing in it mentions the election, the courts, or Jan. 6.

Biden's reaction

Biden writes that reading it felt "as if there were two Donald Trumps." He sets the letter against the Trump who, in Biden's words, "deeply destabilized our democracy" and "had not offered the traditional meeting between presidents."

"But here he was, offering his best wishes in warm language that sounded like it was coming from an old friend," Biden wrote.

The backdrop is not small. Trump claimed the 2020 election was stolen, challenged the results in court, and skipped Biden's inauguration. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people involved in the riot after returning to office.

The 2024 meeting

The memoir also describes the traditional transition meeting at the White House on Nov. 13, 2024. In a passage published by The Atlantic, Biden writes that Trump "was immediately chatty and surprised me by adopting a tone so friendly that I thought he might be putting me on. It bordered on fawning."

Biden quotes Trump as telling him: "You know, Joe, if it weren't for politics, I believe we'd be good friends." Trump added, per the memoir, that they would "spend all our time golfing together."

That meeting drew criticism from Biden's own side at the time. Radio host Charlamagne Tha God asked on air: "What happened to the 'threat of democracy' talk? What happened to the 'fascist' talk?" Biden had argued throughout the campaign that Trump was a threat to democracy, then welcomed him warmly once he won.

Who wrote it

Not everyone accepts that the letter shows a private change of heart. Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host of ABC's "The View" and a former White House director of strategic communications under Trump, posted on X that she would "bet a large sum of money this was not written by the president, and likely not one of his speechwriters either."

"My guess is it was written by someone on his correspondence staff," she wrote. "They send birthday wishes etc on behalf of the WH."

That is a guess from a former aide, not a finding. Neither Trump nor the White House has said who drafted the letter. The signature is "Donald," and the copy Biden reprinted is the only version in public view.

The White House response

White House communications director Steven Cheung did not dispute the letter's authenticity. He told the Times: "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 added: "Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president."

The letter shows what presidents on both sides tend to do in private. It also leaves the public-private gap unresolved for both men. Trump's side points to the prosecutions of its leader, which it calls weaponization. Biden's side points to Trump's refusal to concede and to Jan. 6. A gracious note on Inauguration Day did not settle either dispute.

The full memoir lands Nov. 17. It also includes Biden's response to critics who said he concealed his stage 4 cancer diagnosis. How much more of the Trump relationship it covers will be clear then.