Reports have been circulating on social media claiming that former President Donald Trump did not leave a note for new President Joe Biden and the former first lady. Melania Trump did not give a first lady invitation to the new first lady Jill Biden, to denigrate the outgoing administration. This is partly false: Trump did leave a note for Biden, but it seems no invitation from the first lady has been extended.
More than 17,000 social media users shared a tweet or a screenshot of the tweet that reads: ‘No presidential note to be left from trump to Biden. No First Lady invitation for the incoming First Lady. These people leaving the White House are TRASH. (here , here, here).
Biden was sworn in as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021 (here). The outgoing president and first lady did not attend the inauguration and became the first president in 150 years to break a political tradition seen as a confirmation of the peaceful transfer of power (here).
It is a long tradition that the outgoing president leaves a letter for the incoming president in the Oval Office (here, here) and that the outgoing first lady gives the incoming first lady a tour of the living quarters of the White House (here, here) .
Biden told White House reporters Trump had written a letter to him, as reported by news outlets including Reuters here, CNN here, Politico here and Fox News here. Biden said: ‘The president has written a very generous letter. Because it was private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him. But it was generous. ”
Melania Trump became the first modern First Lady who did not invite the incoming First Lady for a walkthrough of the private living rooms in the White House (here, here). Michael LaRosa, Jill Biden’s press secretary, told USA Today: “We have not heard from the First Lady office yet.” (here) In an interview with TODAY, seen here, Ashleigh Biden, Jill Biden’s daughter said she did not think Jill had heard of Melania and thought they would not do the traditional protocols. Jill and Joe Biden’s press teams did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
VERDICT
Partly false. Biden confirmed that Trump did leave a letter to him, but Jill Biden’s press secretary said they had not heard from Melania’s office, and her daughter said she did not think they would do the traditional protocols. .
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.