White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki discussed this week President Joe Biden finding a letter left by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, while she was in the Oval Office with Biden.
As is tradition, Trump left a letter for the incoming president. Mediaite referred to the letter as “secret,” since Biden has not disclosed the letter’s contents, other than to say it was “generous.”
Joining actor Rob Lowe on his podcast “Literally! With Rob Lowe,” the press secretary revealed that she thought about not telling Biden about the letter Trump left for him but ultimately decided against it.
“I said, you know, I think you’re going to be asked about the letter that the former president left you,” Psaki recalled speaking to Biden. “And he said, ‘Oh, did he leave me a letter?’
“And I was like, am I telling him he was left a letter?” the press secretary questioned. “I don’t know, okay? So I said, ‘I think so. I think, I think that’s what happened.'”
“[Biden] kind of looked around for the letter and read the letter while I was sitting there, which was just kind of a remarkable moment,” she said. “He didn’t read aloud. He read it to himself. And he is such a classy guy — whether people agree with his politics or not — that he didn’t even convey it to us in that moment of what the letter said, he kind of read the letter consumed it himself.”
Psaki revealed that the letter was “long” and the handwriting was “lovely.”
“It was very long of the script, from where I could see was very lovely,” she told Lowe. “But I don’t know what was in the letter. But yeah, that was one of my early memories.”
On January 20, Biden told the press he wanted to keep the contents of the letter private, but noted that it was “generous.”
“The president wrote a very generous letter,” he said. “Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him. But, uh, it was generous.”
Moreover, at the time, Psaki called the letter “gracious.”
“Basically, I wish him luck and, you know, it was a couple of pages long and it was from the heart because I want to see him do well,” Trump told commentator Lisa Boothe in March.
Here’s partial transcript of the conversation via Mediaite:
PSAKI: On my first day before I did my first briefing, I was in the Oval Office, talking with him about the briefing and anything he wanted me to convey or what I expected or whatever. And I said, You know, I think you’re going to be asked about the letter that the former president left you and he said, “Oh, did he leave me a letter?”
And I was like, am I telling him he was left a letter? I don’t know, OK? So I said, I think so. I think, I think that’s what happened. So he kind of looked around for the letter and read the letter while I was sitting there, which was just kind of a remarkable moment. No, he didn’t read aloud. He read it to himself. And he is such a classy guy, whether people agree with his politics or not, that he didn’t even convey it to us in that moment of what the letter said, he kind of read the letter consumed it himself.
LOWE: We still don’t know what was in the letter.
PSAKI: It was long.
LOWE: Really…
PSAKI: Yeah, it was very long of the script from where I could see was very lovely. But I don’t know what was in the letter, but yeah, that was one of my early memories.