Trump left a note for President Joe Biden before leaving
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump left him a “very generous letter” before departing the White House and said he would not immediately reveal the contents of the letter out of respect for Trump.
“The president wrote a very generous letter,” Biden told reporters. “Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous.”
It is a modern tradition for outgoing presidents to write their successors a letter and leave it for them on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
While it may seem surprising Trump upheld this tradition, it is in keeping with his past enthusiasm at the letter he received from former President Barack Obama. Trump was taken with Obama’s letter.
“It was long. It was complex. It was thoughtful,” Trump said of the letter the week after taking office in an interview with ABC News. “And it took time to do it, and I appreciated it.” Later, he showed off the letter to visitors in the Oval Office
A senior Trump aide described the letter to CNN as a “personal note” that prays for the success of the country and the new administration to care for the country. The aide said writing the letter to Biden was one of the many items on Trump’s list in the Oval Office Tuesday night.
In a briefing Wednesday night, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to offer more details on the letter Trump left for Biden, telling reporters that, based on comments from Biden, “this is a letter that was private, as he said to you all, it was both generous and gracious, and it was just a reflection of him not planning to release the letter unilaterally.”
In his farewell address on Wednesday, Trump did not name Biden, but said he wished the “new administration great luck and great success.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence also left a letter for Vice President Kamala Harris. Pence attended Biden’s inauguration, and as he was departing the U.S. Capitol after the ceremony, Pence and former Second Lady Karen Pence shared a laugh with Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
