Former US President Joe Biden has disclosed the contents of a letter President Donald Trump left for him at the White House in January 2021, revealing a surprisingly warm message that contrasted sharply with Trump's public challenges to the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The letter, which Biden previously described as "very generous" without revealing its contents, appears in his forthcoming presidential memoir, “Promise Me, America", scheduled for publication on November 17.
According to The New York Times, which obtained an excerpt from the book and examined a photocopy of the original letter, Trump left the handwritten message in the Oval Office on January 20, 2021, the day Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president.
The note was placed in an envelope addressed "To '46,'" a reference to Biden's place in the presidential succession.
Despite Trump's repeated public allegations of election fraud and his efforts to challenge Biden's victory, the letter contained no objections to the election results. Instead, Trump reflected on the responsibilities of the presidency and expressed confidence in Biden's ability to make a lasting impact.
"Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats," Trump wrote, according to the Times. "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 continued.
Biden writes in his memoir that the contrast between Trump's private words and his public conduct left him with the impression that there were two very different sides to his predecessor.
Reading the letter, Biden recalls feeling "as if there were two Donald Trumps."
While acknowledging the unusually gracious tone of Trump's message, Biden also criticizes his predecessor elsewhere in the memoir for what he describes as efforts to undermine American democracy.