- Biden said Trump left him a “very generous” letter, but he has not yet released the content.
- Presidents who step down traditionally leave their successors a letter at the Oval Office Resolution Table.
- Biden began his term by issuing a series of executive orders, many of them revoking Trump’s policies.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
President Joe Biden said that a letter left to him by former President Donald Trump was “very generous”, but that he would not make the content public until he spoke to his predecessor.
Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday and spent the afternoon signing a series of executive orders from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Many of them reversed Trump’s policies and were attempts to reconnect to the world, including returning to the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, and repealing the travel ban imposed mainly on predominantly Muslim countries.
It is a tradition that departing presidents leave their successors a letter inside the oak table, and Trump, despite snubbing Biden’s tenure, respected that tradition.
“The president wrote a very generous letter,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday. “Because it was private, I won’t talk about it until I speak to him, but it was generous.”
—ABC News (@ABC) January 20, 2021
Although the contents of the letter are unknown, CNN said it was written on Tuesday night and was a “personal note” that included prayers for the Biden government and the United States as a nation, citing a Trump administration source.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters, “This is a private letter … it was generous and courteous.”
However, Trump did not place the note in the Oval Office, delegating the task to an aide, Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted.
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President Joe Biden at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office on January 20, 2020.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Former Vice President Mike Pence also left a letter for Vice President Kamala Harris at his old table in the west wing, Jacobs said.
Former First Lady Melania Trump also left a note for First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, CNN reported.
Upon leaving the White House in 2017, President Barack Obama left a letter to Trump in which he praised his “remarkable race”.
“Millions pinned their hopes on you, and all of us, regardless of the party, must hope for greater prosperity and security during your term,” wrote Obama.
After becoming president in 2017, Trump installed a box on the Resolute Desk containing a red button that, when pressed, would summon Diet Coke.
Images of Biden’s night in the Oval Office seemed to show that the button had been removed.
In his final speech as president before leaving Washington, DC, on Wednesday morning, Trump wished the Biden administration “luck and great success”.
“We will be back somehow,” he added.