Biden Blocked Pre-Inauguration Trump Team Talks With Putin, Memoir Says

Former US President Joe Biden reveals in his upcoming memoir “Promise Me, America” that members of Donald Trump’s transition team asked him to sign a letter authorizing them to hold direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to Trump’s inauguration, The Wall Street Journal reported. Published ahead of the 46th president’s book release on Tuesday, Nov. 17, excerpts reviewed by the newspaper detail how Biden refused to grant Trump’s incoming aides diplomatic clearance during the presidential transition period because he did not want to give them free rein over talks that could undermine Kyiv.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. What we know so far – Biden’s assessment of Zelensky, Putin, other world leaders Across the memoir, Biden offers personal assessments of foreign leaders he engaged with during his four years in the White House, including President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin. Biden noted that Zelensky’s background as an actor proved to be “very good preparation” for leading a nation under wartime conditions. However, the former president wrote that the Ukrainian leader could be “moody and stubborn during private conversations and showed less gratitude” than Biden had expected. Describing the Russian president, Biden recalled Putin’s “irritating tone” and wrote that the Kremlin leader frequently slouched during meetings, feigning “indifference like a teenager”. Biden recounts that members of Trump’s team asked him to sign a letter that would have allowed them to hold direct talks with Putin before Trump’s inauguration, however Biden says he refused, since he did not want to give them carte blanche to do what he expected would amount to “a kind of capitulation at Ukraine’s expense.” Other Topics of Interest Emmanuel Macron has warned that rationing aid to Ukraine seeks to force an “unjust peace” and a new war, as Europe picked five nations for peace talks. Biden also expressed warmth toward the late British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, writing that they formed a natural, trusting relationship “marked by her steely strength and a sparkle of humor in her eyes that reminded him of his late mother”. Addressing Middle East policy following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, Biden accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “prioritizing his own short-term political survival over Israel’s long-term strategic interests”. While noting that the two leaders could speak candidly, Biden wrote that there was little trust between them and that he was troubled by Netanyahu’s tendencies – which reminded him of Trump – to play fast and loose with the truth and subordinate democratic institutions to personal political needs. Biden added that while he will never regret supporting Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas assault – which he described as “the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust” – he carries the weight of civilian suffering in Gaza, writing that too many innocent Palestinians who had no connection to Hamas were killed. Interactions with Trump Although Trump has long served as Biden’s chief political rival, the memoir recounts contrasts in their personal interactions. Biden opens the book with a sharp condemnation of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, arguing that Trump was not leading the country at that moment but “leading an insurrection in one of the most egregious derelictions of duty by any president in American history”. Yet Biden noted that upon entering the Oval Office after his inauguration, he discovered a personal letter left behind by Trump following months of bitter campaign attacks, leading him to reflect that it seemed as if “there were two different Donald Trumps”. Near the end of the book, Biden describes a post-election meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in late 2024, recalling that Trump stunned the outgoing president by suggesting that “if it were not for politics, the two of them would have been good friends and would have played golf together all the time”. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.