Biden Book Reveals Trump’s 2021 Oval Office Letter to ‘46’ as Release Nears Nov. 17
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 10
Biden Book Reveals Trump’s 2021 Oval Office Letter to ‘46’ as Release Nears Nov. 17
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 10
Summary
Biden’s new memoir, “Promise Me, America,” publishes in full the note Trump left in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2021, ending years of secrecy around what Biden had called a “very generous letter.”
The letter, addressed to “46,” contains no challenge to the 2020 election and instead praises Biden, saying, “I know how much you love the American people” and predicting he would not simply be “swept along” by history.
That tone sharply contrasts with Trump’s public attacks on Biden and his refusal to accept the 2020 result, making the note an unusually conciliatory document from the transfer of power.
Biden, 83, writes that the message felt like it came from “an old friend,” even though he says Trump “deeply destabilized our democracy” and skipped the traditional meeting between outgoing and incoming presidents.