WEBVTT 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:05.580 This is a Fox News alert and a pretty historic one at that. 00:00:06.030 --> 00:00:09.490 President Trump has revealed the context of the letter 00:00:09.490 --> 00:00:12.250 that former President Biden left to him. 00:00:12.690 --> 00:00:13.910 This is a Fox News exclusive, 00:00:14.030 --> 00:00:15.350 and let me put this into perspective. 00:00:15.890 --> 00:00:17.970 There have only been seven presidents 00:00:17.970 --> 00:00:20.370 that left a letter to their predecessors, 00:00:21.010 --> 00:00:24.590 six who left a letter to the opposite political party. 00:00:25.090 --> 00:00:28.670 And Biden was just the third to have to pin a letter 00:00:28.670 --> 00:00:30.950 to someone who was a political opponent, 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:34.250 in this case, a former political opponent. 00:00:34.760 --> 00:00:37.680 This is history, and we at Fox News 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:39.840 have the content of this letter. 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.100 Hello, everyone, this is Outnumbered. 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:44.520 I'm Kayleigh McEnany here with my co-host, Harris Faulkner. 00:00:44.860 --> 00:00:46.580 Also joining us, Cheryl Cassone, 00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:49.040 Fox Business Anchor and host of American Dream Home 00:00:49.040 --> 00:00:49.820 on Fox Business. 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:52.600 Jerry Willis, Fox Business Correspondent, 00:00:52.660 --> 00:00:55.160 and Ben Ferguson, host of the Ben Ferguson Podcast 00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:58.540 and co-host of Verdict with Ted Cruz Podcast. 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:05.260 Well, we begin with with Peter Ducey. He's live on the White House lawn in Peter 00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:12.488 This is only the third time in our history. We have a letter exactly like this one. What does it say and? 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:19.020 Kayleigh we saw the other night on Monday just a few minutes after President Trump returned to the Oval Office 00:01:19.020 --> 00:01:25.020 I asked him if the president left him a letter. He hadn't checked yet. He opened up the drawer 00:01:25.020 --> 00:01:27.980 We were only able to see the outside of the envelope 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:34.390 that said 47, we can report now for the first time anywhere in the world, this history-making 00:01:34.390 --> 00:01:37.390 text of what it said on the inside. 00:01:37.570 --> 00:01:41.950 The letterhead was of Joseph R. Biden Jr. It said, President of the United States. 00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:47.970 And his cursive handwriting that I reviewed was difficult to read at times, but this is 00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:49.450 what I got from the letter. 00:01:49.630 --> 00:01:50.270 Let's read it together. 00:01:50.910 --> 00:01:55.970 Dear President Trump, as I take leave of this sacred office, I wish you and your family 00:01:57.210 --> 00:02:02.510 in the next four years. The American people and people around the world look to this house for 00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:08.190 steadiness in the inevitable storms of history. And my prayer is that in the coming years will be 00:02:08.190 --> 00:02:14.770 a time of prosperity, peace and grace for our nation. May God bless you and guide you as he 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:23.730 has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding, Joe Biden won 2025. And that is it. 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:31.180 We, I got a call that President Trump was ready to share the contents of the letter. 00:02:31.320 --> 00:02:33.980 We heard him last night describe it as inspirational. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:39.860 And that is, we can confirm the President's assessment, all right. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.560 It is an inspirational, forward-looking, well-wish. 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:52.020 quite possibly the only time that they will exchange letters ever again, Kaley. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:56.000 Peter, so I'm interested to know was that the entirety of the letter? I'm looking 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:00.340 right now on my phone at images of past letters and they tend to be a little 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:04.620 longer, three sometimes four paragraphs going into detail. That's a very 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:07.400 gracious letter that Biden left, but was that the entirety of it? 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:09.280 That was the entirety of the letter, yes. 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:14.900 handwritten by President Biden on his personal stationery, just one side of one page. 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:20.460 Another question for you, this comes and I think this is important context for our viewers. 00:03:20.980 --> 00:03:24.240 He penned this letter and I'm wondering if you know the timeline of Biden pinning this 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:24.420 letter. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.660 As I understand it was on the day of the inauguration. 00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:31.240 So he pens this letter and he rides off with President Trump and then he pardons members 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:35.260 of his family in a way in which President Trump would have found out about it in the 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:36.520 aftermath of his speech. 00:03:36.660 --> 00:03:41.160 So it's a gracious letter, but it comes on the heels of maybe an acrimonious decision 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:53.760 And I don't know the exact timeline, but to your point, it's possible that he used the same pen to sign the pardons and then write this note to President Trump. 00:03:55.720 --> 00:03:59.880 Well, Peter, thank you very much. That is history that you just made. Very interesting. 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:00.820 It is history. Yep. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:06.900 Great. Let's bring in Brett Baer, chief political anchor of special report, anchor and executive 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:12.100 editor as well. Brett, it's history in the making and, you know, there will be inevitable 00:04:12.100 --> 00:04:16.480 critics who say, you know, this was a private letter. Biden said that he would not share 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:20.160 the contents of Trump's letter because it was privacy issues he had on his mind. 00:04:20.200 --> 00:04:25.360 But I'm looking at five letters right here on my phone from past presidents that did get out 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:29.420 into the public because it's history. People are interested and these tend to be gracious letters. 00:04:30.220 --> 00:04:35.260 Yeah, good afternoon, Kelly. It is history. And we're seeing it real time as we have since 00:04:35.260 --> 00:04:39.760 inauguration day as this fast and furious kind of drinking from the fire hose of history. 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:44.920 He finds the letter real time in the Oval Office desk, thanks to Peter's questioning, 00:04:45.020 --> 00:04:50.200 and then gives the letter to Peter to bring forward. I think on both fronts, it's very 00:04:50.200 --> 00:04:55.380 magnanimous on President Biden and what is the substance of the letter. This is what we talked 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:04.860 torch, the tradition that everybody looks to in between administrations. 00:05:05.460 --> 00:05:09.660 President Biden didn't put out President Trump's letter and could have. 00:05:09.940 --> 00:05:14.080 But in the wake of that, and obviously in the wake of January 6th, there was a different 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:19.540 sense. This is magnanimous also on President Trump's part, because it does make President 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:23.260 Biden look good in the handover of this moment. 00:05:23.540 --> 00:05:30.280 So, I think it says a lot about our republic. It says a lot about the mindset of President 00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:36.700 Trump right now, feeling comfortable in his skin to do that. And we'll see what happens 00:05:36.700 --> 00:05:42.000 as far as other elements of retribution or looking backwards. I think he's kind of looking 00:05:43.900 --> 00:05:45.640 Brett, I notice a commonality here. 00:05:45.760 --> 00:05:47.040 There was a line that stood out to me. 00:05:47.140 --> 00:05:52.300 It was a short letter, but he said they looked to this house, to the White House, for steadiness 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:53.620 in the storms of history. 00:05:54.080 --> 00:05:57.180 And you get this kind of tacit acknowledgment between our 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:02.710 very small group of 47 presidents that they understand the storms together despite being 00:06:02.710 --> 00:06:06.750 from different political parties. I'm looking at the letter that George W. Bush left to Barack 00:06:06.750 --> 00:06:11.570 Obama. There will be trying moments. Your friends will disappoint you, but you will have an almighty 00:06:11.570 --> 00:06:17.870 God to comfort you. I'm looking at George H. W. Bush to Bill Clinton. There will be tough times made 00:06:17.870 --> 00:06:23.730 even more difficult by criticisms you may not think are fair. There's this unique understanding 00:06:25.950 --> 00:06:27.050 as to what they face. 00:06:27.960 --> 00:06:32.040 Listen, the job of a president is the toughest job in the world. 00:06:32.140 --> 00:06:33.920 It comes with a heavy, heavy burden. 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:40.400 Every day, you get a, as you well know, Kayleigh, you get a daily brief that's the size of a 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:46.660 small phone book of real threats facing the U.S. and specific sometimes. 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:50.240 There are heavy decisions that have to be made every day. 00:06:50.440 --> 00:06:56.000 So those letters, those handovers in the Resolute Desk, mean something between a very small 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:03.380 this job. And sharing this letter is, I just think it's great for the nation to see this 00:07:03.380 --> 00:07:09.080 transfer and to see how they go from one to the other. As you say, other letters have 00:07:09.080 --> 00:07:12.520 come out in the past and this one a little bit quicker than perhaps the others. 00:07:13.070 --> 00:07:17.550 I just want to share my favorite line I think ever penned in a presidential letter and it 00:07:17.550 --> 00:07:21.990 was from George H.W. Bush and he begins his letter, when I walked into this office, this 00:07:21.990 --> 00:07:28.090 is to Bill Clinton, I just now felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four 00:07:28.090 --> 00:07:28.690 years ago. 00:07:29.150 --> 00:07:30.770 I know you will feel that too. 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:38.500 For four years, the wonderment never wears off. Every time I walked onto that sunbeam pattern 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:44.160 rug, that Reagan that Nancy left to her husband that now sits on the floor of President Trump's 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.560 Oval Office, I never lost that sense of wonder. And these presidents, it appears, don't lose it either. 00:07:49.950 --> 00:07:53.430 Yeah. I mean, I covered the White House for four years. Every time I walked in the Oval Office, 00:07:53.610 --> 00:07:59.170 it was this bewilderment, this awe, and it didn't get old. There's a great video that Speaker 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:05.290 Johnson has on X that he posted as he's walking behind Vice President Vance, who was going into 00:08:05.290 --> 00:08:11.770 the Oval Office for the first time. And that bewilderment of the power of that office hits him 00:08:11.770 --> 00:08:18.130 as President Trump is showing him around. This is history. This is important. These things will 00:08:19.310 --> 00:08:25.450 books. And I think that we have to absorb things day to day, because this is coming at us fast, 00:08:25.630 --> 00:08:29.750 and there's a lot to absorb. So hopefully we'll be able to bring that to you real time. 00:08:29.890 --> 00:08:33.710 Congratulations to Peter for getting that letter and bringing it forward. 00:08:34.170 --> 00:08:38.630 No doubt. And I saw that video, Brett. J.D. Vance from poverty and the 00:08:38.630 --> 00:08:42.630 lowliest of circumstances to the Oval Office as vice president. 00:08:42.770 --> 00:08:44.630 It was quite something to watch. Thank you so much, Brett. 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:45.850 You bet. See you at one. 00:08:47.520 --> 00:08:50.280 You know, Harris, it's really quite something. 00:08:50.520 --> 00:08:52.760 I penned a letter to my successors. 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:54.160 I didn't just leave one to Jen Psaki. 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.600 I also left one to Karine Jean-Pierre. 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:57.680 Left it in the little drawer. 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:00.340 I not only signed the White House press secretary desk, 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:02.260 but I had baby Blake do it too. 00:09:02.420 --> 00:09:04.820 So Blake Gilmartin is penned in the White House 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:05.700 press secretary desk. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:08.040 What a special moment note about now 00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:09.840 that we know the contents of that letter. 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:11.640 Yeah, you know, I was just looking at it as well. 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:12.480 It's only two paragraphs. 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:16.650 And the second paragraph is really short. 00:09:18.170 --> 00:09:19.490 Well, it's one sentence. 00:09:21.190 --> 00:09:24.390 So may God bless you and guide you as he has blessed 00:09:24.390 --> 00:09:26.550 and guided our beloved country since our founding. 00:09:26.750 --> 00:09:28.670 Look, not a lot of words. 00:09:29.430 --> 00:09:32.030 The president was on camera when he was trying to find 00:09:32.030 --> 00:09:33.850 the letter that Biden had left behind. 00:09:36.150 --> 00:09:38.910 Just the way that things laid out with Biden 00:09:38.910 --> 00:09:40.550 in his last like 30 days. 00:09:41.410 --> 00:09:45.990 We'll probably forget the acrimony that he must have been feeling, but there's some things 00:09:45.990 --> 00:09:46.910 that are going to be lasting. 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:49.230 You know, you said that there have only been seven presidents. 00:09:49.410 --> 00:09:51.830 You and Peter said this, because this was in his report. 00:09:52.150 --> 00:09:54.510 Who've ever gotten a letter like this that was left by a predecessor? 00:09:54.930 --> 00:09:58.130 And only six of them were left for the opposite party. 00:09:59.590 --> 00:10:03.710 That's 45 presidents, because a couple did not serve double terms. 00:10:08.510 --> 00:10:14.010 But 45 men, as you pointed out, who have something in common, and even so far fewer 00:10:14.010 --> 00:10:16.370 than that, who have this in common, getting that letter. 00:10:16.930 --> 00:10:18.030 So it is monumental. 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:20.650 I would think you'd want to say as much as you could. 00:10:21.900 --> 00:10:27.240 But, again, we get that sort of clue that things were not all right with Joe Biden when 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:27.640 he left. 00:10:28.020 --> 00:10:33.920 They were chippy politically, even within his own party, and he did what was necessary, 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:35.060 but nothing more. 00:10:35.380 --> 00:10:38.940 And what was necessary, he did, to your point, and nothing more. 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:39.540 That's well said. 00:10:39.880 --> 00:10:44.520 Cheryl, CNN reported that Biden was in a dark place when he left. 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:48.840 And I understand that from a human perspective, it was a dark place when we left the Trump 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:53.360 administration. It is not easy to transition power, but we do it for the love of our country. 00:10:53.900 --> 00:10:58.200 And, you know, as I think about that in the short letter, it's a gracious thing to do. 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:02.000 It's a hallmark of our democracy. It's a hallmark of what makes this country great, 00:11:02.140 --> 00:11:05.180 transitioning power, leaving beautiful letters like this. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:16.960 Actually for Joe Biden because you can hear in the words and the length of the letter that this was a very difficult goodbye for him not just 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:19.100 from the letter that Peter just wrote, 00:11:19.260 --> 00:11:20.720 but also that read to us, 00:11:20.780 --> 00:11:24.160 but also from, look at the exit interviews from Joe Biden. 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:26.800 Look at the exit interview of Kamala Harris. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:29.120 They knew that they had been, 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:30.520 they'd made a lot of mistakes, 00:11:30.900 --> 00:11:32.420 that the country was in a worse place, 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:34.740 and I think that there's some guilt I'm gonna be frank. 00:11:35.140 --> 00:11:37.720 I feel that they've got guilt because of what has happened, 00:11:37.820 --> 00:11:40.080 whether it was Afghanistan or the economy. 00:11:40.540 --> 00:11:42.580 I did like the words peace and prosperity 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:43.520 because 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:46.510 The incoming administration, now the administration, 00:11:46.910 --> 00:11:48.490 has got a lot other plate. 00:11:49.050 --> 00:11:51.590 And I think it was very gracious of Joe Biden 00:11:51.590 --> 00:11:56.570 to wish him well knowing what Donald Trump is in for. 00:11:56.670 --> 00:11:58.970 And there's a lot of things happening right now globally 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:00.650 that are very disconcerting. 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:02.770 And Jerry, you think about the timing of this. 00:12:02.910 --> 00:12:05.290 I would love to know, did he go from pinning this letter 00:12:05.290 --> 00:12:06.950 at the Oval Office, writing it down, 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:09.530 to his next signature being the pardons 00:12:09.530 --> 00:12:10.430 for his family members? 00:12:11.530 --> 00:12:12.240 It's almost... 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:14.120 impossible to imagine, right? 00:12:14.680 --> 00:12:16.120 And I'm gonna ask a question, 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:17.380 maybe I shouldn't be asking, 00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:19.160 did he write this? 00:12:19.380 --> 00:12:20.460 Not did he pen it? 00:12:20.660 --> 00:12:21.140 No, it's fair. 00:12:21.660 --> 00:12:22.100 No, it's fair. 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:23.640 These words, I mean, I don't know. 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:24.680 I assume they were. 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:26.680 Many presidents do this, 00:12:26.780 --> 00:12:29.220 but just to your point about being in the Oval Office 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:29.980 and how that feels, 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.940 I've only done it once with George W. Bush. 00:12:32.140 --> 00:12:33.400 And let me tell you, they took a picture. 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.100 My eyes are as big as saucers. 00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:38.100 This is where history is made. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:39.940 This is where excitement happens. 00:12:40.750 --> 00:12:41.590 It's a big moment. 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:44.290 Yeah, you know, it's been, when I walked in, 00:12:44.390 --> 00:12:45.290 I couldn't believe it. 00:12:45.410 --> 00:12:46.730 I'm like, this is my first time in the Oval Office. 00:12:46.850 --> 00:12:47.570 I'm briefing the president. 00:12:47.750 --> 00:12:49.890 You walk past this grandfather mahogany clock. 00:12:50.090 --> 00:12:51.630 You sit across from the Resolute desk, 00:12:51.810 --> 00:12:53.890 a gift from Queen Victoria in 1800s, 00:12:54.010 --> 00:12:55.030 and you sit on this gold couch 00:12:55.030 --> 00:12:58.170 and you look at where the decisions to your point, Jerry, 00:12:58.710 --> 00:13:00.970 history is made at that desk we're looking at. 00:13:01.030 --> 00:13:03.270 It's an incredible experience when you walk in there. 00:13:03.350 --> 00:13:05.070 I walked in there first with Bush 43, 00:13:05.550 --> 00:13:07.030 and he smiled and he looked at me, 00:13:07.050 --> 00:13:08.050 he was like, it's pretty cool, isn't it? 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:10.520 Yes, his presence is pretty cool. 00:13:10.920 --> 00:13:12.500 He's like, not bad for a boy from Mississippi. 00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:13.920 He knew us from Memphis, Tennessee, 00:13:14.100 --> 00:13:15.620 and that was his knock as I went to Ole Miss, 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:17.180 and he called me Mississippi the entire time 00:13:17.180 --> 00:13:18.060 I had to work with him. 00:13:18.380 --> 00:13:19.460 And he never called me, I mean, 00:13:19.900 --> 00:13:20.340 Christmas party. 00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:21.900 Hey, Mississippi, come on over. 00:13:22.020 --> 00:13:22.420 I'm like, really? 00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:25.340 But I go back to the other part about this. 00:13:25.800 --> 00:13:28.220 I think this is a legacy letter for Joe Biden. 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:29.760 It was a check the box moment. 00:13:30.020 --> 00:13:30.880 Yeah, he had to do it. 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:32.180 But it's not reality. 00:13:33.140 --> 00:13:34.900 The reality is he had to save 00:13:34.900 --> 00:13:36.700 the criminal actions of his family. 00:13:37.150 --> 00:13:44.470 Right before or right after he wrote this letter that's the reality of his administration when Joe Biden was walking out 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:48.410 To go transfer power and puts a very nice 00:13:48.870 --> 00:13:54.750 Exclamation point with a letter to Donald Trump. He really had to do something that is unconscionable 00:13:55.020 --> 00:14:02.260 He had to give out pardons to people that he believes were breaking the law and Joe Biden's legacy is not what the words in that letter to me. 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:08.200 His legacy is his family needed to bail out because of their criminal actions that he now is admitting. 00:14:08.660 --> 00:14:13.420 We exploited the U.S. government. We exploited it all the way back to 2014. 00:14:14.280 --> 00:14:21.480 And we made as much money as we could selling access to the U.S. government through all of my family members that I'm going to pardon right now. 00:14:21.880 --> 00:14:31.640 So I look at this as, hey, you may have tried to make this your legacy with a really kind, well-worded letter that maybe you didn't even write, but you copied it down like you're in second grade. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.920 But the final moments of his presidency were covering for his family's actions. That is his legacy, and that's why I think he was probably so sad when he's leaving the Oval Office.