Biden memoir recounts cordial Trump meeting and Jan. 6 criticism

Joe Biden’s forthcoming memoir recounts a cordial private exchange with Donald Trump after the 2024 election and condemns Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The book, Promise Me, America, is scheduled for release Nov. 17, 2026.

In the memoir excerpt, Biden writes that Trump told him they might have been good friends without politics and suggested they could spend time golfing together. Biden says Trump praised his record on job creation and said he was relieved he had not needed to run against him.

Biden describes being caught off guard by the remarks during their postelection meeting in the Oval Office. His account says the meeting took place eight days after the 2024 election, when Biden hosted Trump, then president-elect, as part of the transition. The personal warmth, Biden writes, did not change his assessment of Trump’s actions or his concerns about what Trump would do in office.

In the same memoir, Biden calls Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 an insurrection and writes that the events should follow Trump to his grave. Biden says Trump sought to remain in power after losing the 2020 election and criticizes his later pardons and clemency for people...