Trump leaves a note for Biden in the Oval Office — an Inauguration Day tradition

Before leaving the White House, President Donald Trump left a note for his successor, Joe Biden, in the Oval Office, carrying on at least one tradition of the peaceful transition of power, two Trump administration officials said on Wednesday.

Trump went to Florida Wednesday morning and did not attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony, breaking with a century of precedent in which presidents have witnessed their successors taking the oath of office. Leaving a note for Biden is one Inauguration Day tradition that Trump chose to keep.

“The President left a note for President-elect Biden,” Judd Deere, Trump’s deputy press secretary, said hours before Biden was sworn in as the 46th president.

Former President Barack Obama left Trump a note in the Resolute Desk four years ago, wishing him “good luck and godspeed.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who attended Biden’s inauguration, left the incoming president a copy of the Trump administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force report, as well as a handwritten note for his successor, Kamala Harris.

Pence — who drew Trump’s ire when he oversaw congressional certification of his election loss — applauded Harris when she took the oath as the first female vice president in U.S. history. After the ceremony, the incoming and outgoing vice presidents exchanged words and a laugh on the steps of the Capitol.

Aides to Pence were unable to say whether he had spoken with Trump on Wednesday. Pence returned home to Columbus, Indiana.