PoliticoDonald Trump leaves parting Oval Office letter for Joe Biden
- The presidential tradition was started lightheartedly by Ronald Reagan, who left a note for George H.W. Bush
- Obama’s note to Trump urged him to leave the ‘instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them’
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nick Niedzwiadek on politico.com on January 20, 2021.
After four years of shattering precedent inside the White House, US President Donald Trump took part in one final presidential tradition on his way out of office Wednesday: leaving a letter for his successor inside the Oval Office.
Trump spokesperson Judd Deere confirmed Wednesday that the president had written a letter to president-elect Joe Biden and left it for him in the Oval Office‘s Resolute Desk.
The Trump White House did not divulge the contents of what Trump left for Biden to read.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office for the first time as president on Wednesday evening, Biden said he, too, would keep the note under wraps until he had a moment to connect with Trump.
“The president wrote a very generous letter,” Biden said. “Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous.”