Biden memoir excerpt targets Trump over January 6 riot

A Biden memoir excerpt says Donald Trump must never escape the legacy of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and it calls the day a lasting stain.

Former President Joe Biden, 83, writes that Trump, 80, has deeply damaged the country and the world. He accuses him of an administration set on tearing down institutions and inflaming hatreds.

What the Biden memoir says about January 6

The excerpt comes from “Promise Me, America”, which hits shelves on November 17. A magazine published the first extract on Monday.

“Donald Trump led an insurrection,” Biden wrote. He said Trump wanted to stay in power after voters removed him from office.

The rioters were not “peaceful protesters”, Biden argued. They came armed to the Capitol, he wrote, to stop the certification of a legitimate election.

He also criticised Trump for issuing more than 1,500 pardons to the offenders. Biden wrote that nobody gets to ignore police officers who suffered beatings and call himself a friend of law enforcement.

What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten, Biden added, and it should “follow him to his grave”.

Legacy and policy in the Biden memoir

He also regrets Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and his fast rollback of earlier Biden policies, climate measures above all.

All presidents fear that successors will undo their work, he wrote. In his case, that fear grew. Trump, he said, seemed unable to accept that someone else’s achievements might deserve building on.

Biden pitched the book on social media as the best way to explain his presidency. It covers the challenges he faced and the decisions he made.

A meeting with Trump

The excerpt also recounts an unusual Oval Office meeting. According to Biden, Trump said, “if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends”.

Trump added that he felt relieved that he did not have to run against Biden, the former president wrote. Biden said he used the session to brief Trump on global issues, among them the Ukraine-Russia war, NATO, Israel, Gaza and relations between China and the US.

Trump, Biden wrote, focused on the personalities of leaders rather than on the issues.

Health and political backdrop

Biden said he has prostate cancer and that his doctors feel positive about his response to treatment. He said he cannot do as many conversations about the book as he hoped, because the illness sometimes slows him down.

“Some days are better than others,” he wrote. He asked people to let the pages speak on his behalf.

The Biden memoir arrives days after Democrats won broad House and Senate majorities in the midterm elections, a rebuke of Trump’s second term. However, many voters still view Biden’s own presidency with doubt.

He faced widespread concern about his age and dropped his reelection bid after a poor debate in June 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris then lost to Trump that November.

For now, the Biden memoir gives him a final word on Trump, while his health limits how far he can promote it.