Former President Donald Trump commented on the “nice message” he left for President Joe Biden when he left office in 2021.
“You know, it’s interesting. He actually said it’s up to me to do that, and I actually think it’s up to him to do that,” Trump said after “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked him to “have one to give a little meaning” to the letter.
“I think it was very – it was a nice comment. I took a lot of time to think about it. I would be happy if he did a great job, even if it would be very bad politically.”
The letter, part of the tradition for outgoing presidents to leave notes for their successor, was described as “very generous” by Biden in 2021.
He did not reveal details about the letter at the time, adding that it was a private letter and he would not discuss it until he spoke with Trump.
Trump, months after Biden’s inauguration, said Lisa Boothe that he wished Biden luck in a letter that “came from the heart.”
Biden, who reportedly viewed the Trump letter as “shockingly merciful“, put the letter in his pocket and “did not tell his advisorsAfter finding it in the Oval Office, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa wrote in their book “Peril.”
Jen Psaki, a former Biden White House press secretary, told Rob Lowe last year that the president received the letter himself after discovering it.
“And he’s such a noble guy, whether people agree with his policies or not, that he didn’t even tell us the moment the letter was written,” Psaki said.
She continued: “It was long, it was very long. From what I could see, the script was very nice.”
The letters left by presidents Go to the National Archives and are made available to the public.