Biden reveals Trump’s private 2021 White House letter praising his leadership in new memoir: Report

Former US President Joe Biden has revealed the contents of the private letter Donald Trump left for him in the Oval Office before leaving the White House in January 2021, according to an excerpt of the book and a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.

The letter, reproduced in Biden’s upcoming memoir Promise Me, America, contains warm wishes from Trump, who encouraged his successor to lead the nation with confidence despite the bitter political divisions surrounding the presidential transition.

The letter had remained private for nearly six years. Biden had previously acknowledged receiving a “very generous letter” but declined to reveal its contents. Biden's Promise Me, America, is scheduled for release next week.

According to excerpts obtained by The New York Times, Biden wrote that reading the note left him surprised because it differed so sharply from Trump’s public rhetoric. “It was as if there were two Donald Trumps,” Biden wrote in the memoir.

Biden argued that Trump “deeply destabilized democracy” during and after the 2020 election. Yet he says the private note “sounded like it was coming from an old friend.” The letter was written on January 20, 2021, the day Biden took office as the 46th president.

Trump departed Washington that morning and became the first outgoing president in more than 150 years to skip his successor’s inauguration. “Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote in the letter.

“This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people,” the letter continued. “Not only are you joined by the past, but you carry the hopes and dreams of the entire nation on your shoulders,” Trump wrote.

He praised and wished good for Biden in the letter. “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.” He wrote, “Not only are you joined by the past, but you carry the hopes and dreams of the entire nation on your shoulders.

The gravity of that fact never leaves you, it is the anchor that grounds every decision you make.” He added that every presidential decision is grounded in the knowledge that “millions upon millions of people are depending on you.” After the report, the he White House quickly responded to Biden’s memoir.

Communications Director Steven Cheung argued that Biden failed to follow Trump’s advice contained in the letter. “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 said in a statement.

He added, “Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president.” After losing the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly claimed widespread voter fraud without producing evidence that changed the certified outcome.

He filed multiple legal challenges and pressured allies to contest the results. The political crisis culminated on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory.

Congress later completed the certification, and Biden was inaugurated two weeks later. Since returning to office, Trump has continued to dispute the 2020 election and granted pardons to more than 1,000 people convicted or charged over the Capitol riot.