Former President Joe Biden levels blistering criticism at President Donald Trump in his upcoming memoir, writing that Trump's conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol "should follow him to his grave."
The remarks appear in a book excerpt published by The Atlantic on Monday and rank among the most forceful attacks Biden has aimed at Trump since departing the White House.
In the excerpt, Biden writes that Trump "led an insurrection" and condemns the president's move to grant sweeping pardons to Jan. 6 defendants. "The criminals who attacked law-enforcement officers that day didn't deserve pardons," Biden wrote. "They deserved prison terms."
Biden also accuses Trump and his backers of continuing to "preen and posture like they're supporters of law enforcement." He wrote: "Here's my view: You don't get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalized and call yourself a friend of law enforcement." He added, "What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave."
NBC News has reached out to the White House for comment on the excerpt. The memoir, titled "Promise Me, America," is scheduled for release on Nov. 17.
In a September interview with Time magazine, Trump acknowledged he was weighing pardons for members of his administration before his term ends, pointing to the preemptive pardons Biden issued. Those went to Biden's son, Hunter Biden, other family members, lawmakers who served on the congressional Jan. 6 committee, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
The excerpt also recounts Biden's post-election meeting with Trump in 2024, part of the tradition in which an outgoing president briefs his successor. Biden writes that Trump's tone "bordered on fawning" and that Trump told him, "if it weren't for politics, I believe we'd be good friends," a comment Biden says left him "too stunned to respond."
"He said my performance on job creation had been 'extraordinary,'" Biden wrote. "He added that he'd been relieved he didn't have to run against me. I didn't really understand why he was buttering me up, so I cut off his compliments to move on to the business at hand."
Biden writes that during the roughly two hour meeting he sought to give Trump an overview of world issues he believed would "dominate his presidency." While Trump "nodded appreciatively," Biden said he noticed "a curious pattern: He focused on the personalities of the leaders, as if we were sharing gossip about people at a dinner party, not discussing issues of global significance."
On Sunday, Biden announced he would not "be able to do as many conversations about my book as I'd hoped," citing his ongoing fight against cancer. "Some days are better than others," he wrote in a post to X. "It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down."
