Sources and notes detailing the last four days of the Trump presidency revealed that upon entering the Oval Office, newly elected president Joe Biden found a letter waiting for him from his predecessor, The New York Times reported.Donald Trump left a 'gracious' letter behind for Joe Biden after leaving the White House, it has been revealed, as aides shared the catalog of chaos that culminated in last week's Mar-a-Lago raid.The letter was reportedly handwritten by Trump himself on two large pages, with Biden remarking to an aide that the former president 'had been more gracious in the letter than he had anticipated.'
Its contents have not been revealed, but the letter will be among the first records Biden will have to turn over to the National Archives when he leaves the White House.
Aides say it was the very same process that landed Trump in trouble with the FBI, after attempts by the National Archive to retrieve the note Barack Obama had left for Trump, as well as correspondence with Kim Jong un, sparked a wider probe into the removal of classified documents.
It's a process that has landed Trump in the midst of a FBI investigation, following a series of blunders that resulted in a failure to turn over two dozen boxes of documents, leading to a raid on his Mar-a-Lago hTrump has denied allegations of wrongdoing, and says he plans to sue.
Those who spoke to the Times suggested the incident had stemmed from poor organization among Trump's staff, rather than because of any malign attempt to misuse secret information.
Sources told the Times that in the hurry to leave the White House, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows assured aides that he would ensure the administration complied with the regulations to leave the documents for the National Archive.
They noted, however, that Trump seemed more focused on 'pushing through last-minute pardons' as he ignored the transition of power while repeating unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Although the White House Counsel's Office said it warned Meadows that the two dozen boxes needed to be turned in, which included document's marked 'highly classified' and letters from Korean leader Kim Jong-un, they ended up in Mar-a-Lago instead.
Under the Presidential Records Act, which governs the handling of records created in the Oval Office, every document generated essentially belongs to taxpayers and must be submitted to the National ArDonald McGahn, Trump's first White House Counsel, had instituted a protocol for the handling of materials and had given presentations on the law to staff members, former officials told the Times.
They added that several conversations were had about following the 2020 loss about sending someone to collect the documents that had been building up in Trump's estate.
The archivists were particularly keen on getting back letters sent to the president from Kim Jong-Un and a letter Barack Obama left behind for Trump at the start of his presidency, both of which are considered to have significant historical value.