Biden recounts Trump meeting after 2024 election victory
In a Monday response to the BBC’s request for comment, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called Joe Biden “the worst president in American history.” She said what Biden and his administration “did to this country should never be forgotten.” Bis asserted they “created the worst border crisis in history, were soft-on-crime, produced the worst inflation crisis in 40 years, and championed America-Last policies.”
Biden’s memoir excerpt also detailed a long meeting between him and Trump following Trump’s 2024 election victory. Biden wrote that he was shocked when Trump purportedly said, “if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends.” Biden said the statement left him “too stunned to respond.”
In the same passage, Biden wrote that Trump called Biden’s job-creation performance “extraordinary” and added that Trump had been relieved not to have to run against Biden. Biden said he did not understand why Trump was “buttering me up,” so he cut off the compliments to move on to the business at hand.
Other parts of the excerpt addressed January 6 and the pardons that followed. Biden wrote: “What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave.” He said Trump should not have pardoned supporters who stormed Congress in a bid to thwart the certification of Biden’s election victory.
The excerpt also faulted Trump and his administration for pushing to “tear down institutions and inflame hatreds.” Biden accused Trump of turning a “blind eye” to their violent acts, writing: “You don’t get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalised and call yourself a friend of law enforcement.” On the pardons, Biden wrote: “The criminals who attacked law-enforcement officers that day didn’t deserve pardons. They deserved prison terms.”
Trump had previously denied any wrongdoing in connection with the riot, which happened after he held a rally. After returning to the White House last year, he pardoned more than 1,000 people convicted for their role in the riot and commuted the sentences of a dozen members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. The BBC characterized the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as far-right groups. Trump defended the pardons, saying, “these people have been destroyed.”
The memoir is due later this month, and the BBC said its publication follows Democrats’ success in the midterm elections the previous week. Biden, who served as US president for one term, was not seen much on the campaign trail as he continued treatment for prostate cancer. He has said he is limiting the book’s promotional tour because of the treatment.
In a social media post on Sunday about his cancer experience, Biden wrote: “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down.”