Former President Donald Trump revealed what he wrote to President Joe Biden when he left office in January.
The former commander-in-chief added: "I want him to do well, but that doesn’t include closing up the Keystone Pipeline, which by the way environmentally is much better than having [crude oil] on trains. But [Biden’s] friend and supporter Warren Buffett has trains. Nobody ever talks about that.”
Biden never made reference to the contents of the letter during interviews in January but said it was “very generous.”
In recent years, outgoing presidents have left a letter to their successors. Usually, they leave a note on the Resolute Desk, which was given to the United States by Queen Victoria in the 19th century.
Former President Ronald Reagan started the tradition when he left a note for Vice President George H.W. Bush, who succeeded him in the presidency.
Former President Barack Obama left a note to Trump, reading in part: “This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful … American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.”
And before that, former President George W. Bush left a letter to his successor, Obama: “Very few have had the honor of knowing the responsibility you now feel. Very few know the excitement of the moment and the challenges you will face … There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me. No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead.”
Also in Monday’s interview, Trump suggested that he doesn’t miss Twitter, with which he used to generate massive amounts of engagement during his 2016 campaign and presidency.
“I put out a statement, it’s much more elegant than a tweet and I think it’s picked up better. I would almost say better than Twitter,” he said about his new method of communication.
