Former US president Joe Biden says Donald Trump should be haunted for the rest of his life by the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, describing his predecessor and successor as the leader of an insurrection aimed at retaining power after American voters had removed him from office. Yet Biden’s forthcoming memoirs also reveal a private letter from Trump, written on the day of his inauguration, offering warm wishes and expressing confidence in his ability to lead the country. The contrasting accounts provide an insight into the relationship between the two presidents and the competing sides of Trump’s conduct during the transfer of power.
“What Trump did on 6 January 2021 should never be forgotten,” Biden writes in his memoir, adding that the episode “should haunt him until his grave”. The 83-year-old Democrat describes Trump as having “led an insurrection” to “remain in power after the American people had removed him through the vote”. Excerpts from the book, titled Promise Me, America, were published by The Atlantic ahead of its scheduled release on 17 November.
The revelations revisit the final weeks of Trump’s first presidency, following his defeat in the November 2020 election. Trump repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the election had been stolen through fraud. Congressional and judicial investigations found no evidence to support his allegations. He has continued to dispute the result, while requiring senior officials in his administration to avoid acknowledging that Biden won the election.
Trump’s response to the defeat extended beyond his public challenges to the result. His speeches and statements preceded the 6 January attack, when a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory. The attack became the defining event of the transition between the two administrations, which was marked by an unusual degree of hostility between the outgoing and incoming presidents.
Trump also broke established presidential conventions during the transfer of power. He became the first outgoing president in 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, and abandoned other customary practices, including the traditional White House reception at which the departing president and first lady welcome their successors for tea. His refusal to participate in the ceremony marked a further departure from the usual formalities surrounding the transfer of presidential authority.
Against this record, the private letter Trump left for Biden presents a strikingly different tone. According to a document published in advance by The New York Times, the handwritten letter was dated 20 January 2021, the day Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. It was placed in an envelope bearing the inscription “For ’46’” and written on White House letterhead in Trump’s characteristic black marker.
Biden had previously acknowledged receiving a letter from his predecessor, describing it as “very generous”, but declined to disclose its contents because he considered it private. The memoirs now provide the first detailed account of the message, which offered encouragement and expressed confidence in Biden’s commitment to the American people.
“Many presidents have come and gone simply governing as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote on a single sheet of White House stationery. “Generally, they did not change history, they were simply swept along by its relentless tide. This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people.”
The letter continued with a personal message about the responsibilities of the presidency and the expectations of those who had supported Biden’s election. “Your strength, your deepest source of energy, comes from knowing that millions and millions of people depend on you. Their ambitions and aspirations are the reason you are here, and so many are counting on your success. May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America!”
The document was handwritten and signed simply “Donald”. Its affectionate language contrasted sharply with Trump’s previous public hostility towards Biden and his efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the incoming administration. The message was also written only days after Trump had addressed his supporters from the White House before the Capitol attack.
Biden reflects on the contradiction in his memoirs, describing the experience as being confronted by “two Donald Trumps”. He recalls the warmth of the letter while setting it against what he considers the damage Trump inflicted on American democratic institutions. “He profoundly destabilised our democracy,” Biden writes. “But there he was, offering me his best wishes in affectionate language that sounded as if it came from an old friend.”
For Biden, the letter does not alter his assessment of Trump’s conduct during the election dispute and the events of 6 January. He writes that Trump was responsible for attempting to overturn the democratic outcome and should remain accountable for the consequences. The former president also criticises what he describes as Trump’s determination to dismantle institutions and encourage hatred.
Biden characterises his predecessor’s behaviour as displaying a “contemptuous and destructive nature”. He portrays Trump as someone who appeared unable to accept that the achievements of others could be recognised and built upon, rather than destroyed.
The memoir therefore places the private correspondence alongside the public record of the presidential transition, without suggesting that the letter resolved the hostility between the two men. For Biden, Trump’s handwritten expression of goodwill and his role in the Capitol insurrection belong to the same account of a presidency marked by sharply conflicting conduct.
