President Donald Trump on Sunday praised his predecessor Barack Obama for leaving him a “beautiful” letter, but joked that he wouldn’t reveal its contents.
“It was really very nice for him to do that,” Trump said, holding up an envelope in the East Room of the White House during a swearing-in ceremony for 30 new assistants.
“We will cherish that… and we won’t even tell the press what’s in that letter.”
It’s a longstanding tradition for the sitting president of the U.S.A. to leave a letter to his successor.
On Friday, CBS News cameras captured Obama placing the letter on the iconic Resolute desk in the Oval Office.
The letter Obama received in 2009 from his predecessor George W. Bush was recently made public by ABC News, who obtained it from the National Archives and Records Administration.
Bush congratulated his Democratic successor for beginning “a fantastic chapter” in his life, and one that would be full of both excitement and challenges.
“There will be trying moments. The critics will rage, Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me,” Bush wrote.
Eight years prior, outgoing president Bill Clinton wrote a letter reassuring Bush upon his ascension to the presidency.
“The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible,” Clinton wrote.
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