Trump reveals what Biden wrote in his Oval Office farewell letter
The new president described his predecessor’s missive as ‘very nice’.
Joe Biden told President Trump that Americans looked to the White House for “steadiness in the inevitable storms” in a letter he left for his successor on Monday.
It has become traditional for outgoing presidents to leave letters in a drawer of the Resolute Desk for their immediate successors. Not all presidents reveal what is written, but Trump made details of Biden’s letter public on Wednesday.
Placing the note in a white envelope, with “47” written on the outside, Biden wrote:
Joe Biden’s letter to Donald Trump
Dear President Trump,
As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years.
The American people — and people around the world — look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace and grace for our nation.
May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.
Hours after Biden wrote the letter, first published by Fox News, Trump excoriated his record as president.
“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed, their freedom,” he said, speaking shortly after taking the oath of office to begin his second term.
Later on inauguration day Trump said Biden’s letter was “very nice”, adding: “Basically, it was a little bit of an inspirational type of letter, you know? ‘Joy, do a good job. Important, very important, how important the job is.’
“But I may, I think it was a nice letter. I think I should let people see it, because it was a positive for him, in writing it, I appreciated the letter.”
Trump refused to attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021 but did continue the letter-writing tradition. Biden described what he wrote as “very generous” but the contents were never made public. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, authors of the book Peril, Biden “put it in his pocket and did not share it with his advisers”.
George HW Bush’s letter to Bill Clinton in January 1993 is often remembered as a classic of the genre. “You will be our president when you read this note,” Bush wrote, months after Clinton had beaten him in the 1992 presidential election. “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success is now our country’s success. I am rooting for you.”
