President Donald Trump, while signing a flurry of executive orders from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office of the White House as the now 47th President of the United States, discovered a letter from his predecessor inside one of the desk’s drawers with the help of a Fox News reporter.
Trump was in the process of signing one of many executive orders on Monday after returning to the White House when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked if President Biden left him a letter.
“He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,” Trump told Doocy before discovering a white envelope with the number “47” written on it. “Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.”
Trump then teased everyone in the room by suggesting they all read the letter together, before pulling back the reigns.
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US President Donald Trump holds up outgoing President Joe Biden’s letter as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Jim WATSON /POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“Well, maybe I’ll read it first and then make that determination,” the president said, once again thanking the White House correspondent.
“Happy to help with the passing of the torch,” Doocy said.
Trump was then asked if he left one for Biden, and he said he left one in the desk, just like Biden.
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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In leaving the letter for Trump, Biden kept with the now 36-year tradition of the departing commander in chief, writing a note to the incoming president.
As he left the White House in 1989 after two terms in office, President Ronald Reagan started the tradition – leaving a note for his successor, George H. W. Bush, who also happened to be his vice president.
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Four years later, despite losing to then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, outgoing President Bush left Clinton a note in the Oval Office. The tradition has carried on to this day.