Amid setting a bad precedent in the history of presidential transitions and traditions, Donald Trump has kept one tradition in light hours ahead of getting replaced by his successor Joe Biden- leaving a note in the Oval Office. From guiding the peaceful transition to accompanying the successor to the inauguration ceremony, the presidential traditions in the US are deeply etched and followed by the occupant of the nation's highest office. But Donald Trump stood different in his path of setting the worst record from breaking the tradition of peaceful presidential to skipping Joe Biden's inauguration. However, there is one tradition that Trump did follow ahead of leaving office and that was, leaving a note to his successor Joe Biden in the Oval Office. 

Joe Biden had sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday on the floors of towering Capitol Hill, the very monument that was sieged by pro-Trump supporters weeks ago to block the chambers from certifying Biden's victory in the presidential elections. After swearing-in, Biden drove to the White House and began his duties of getting the country back on the track of democracy. When he entered the Oval Office, he was welcomed by the traditional resolute desk and a big surprise that was kept on the desk- Trump's letter to Biden. 

While Trump neither conceded his defeat nor mentioned Biden's name in any of his last addresses, it was strongly speculated that Trump won't be leaving any traditional note to Biden. However, he took everyone to surprise by leaving a letter to his successor. Surprised to see the letter, Biden had read it but he didn't divulge on what was written in the letter. The development comes to the point that unless Biden shares what was written in the letter, we don't know what's in it. Traditionally, the letter is left on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and the new president would only be sitting behind the desk. 

During his address to the reporters from the Oval Office as the President of the United States, Biden was asked by a reporter- Mr. President, what did president Trump write to you? Responding to the question, Biden said, "The President wrote a very generous letter. I have...because it is private, I won't talk about it until I talk to him. But it was generous". The White House hasn't further shared the content of the letter and observed the note to be a private letter between the 45th and 46th Presidents. 

According to reports, it's unclear whether the current president and his immediate predecessor would have a catch-up call as per the tradition, but Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a press briefing the night of the inauguration that there are no immediate plans for Mr. Biden to give Mr. Trump a call. Psaki, who also served in the Obama administration, said in her first press briefing of the new administration, "I was with him (Biden) when he was reading the letter in the Oval Office, right before he signed the executive actions, and his view was that this is a letter that was private, as he said to you all".

She added that "It was both generous and gracious and it was just a reflection of him not planning to release the letter unilaterally. I wouldn't take it as an indication of a pending call with the former president". Along with Trump, his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had also left notes for the incoming communication team of the administration including Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki and McEnancy took to Twitter and shared the envelopes and said, "sending my prayers as you begin your service to the American people".

It's appropriate to note here that Barack Obama's letter to Trump when the latter succeeded him in 2016 wasn't released until early September 2017, almost nine months after Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President. Right from his first day, Biden had begun the drive of addressing the health and climate crises and to overhaul and repeal and divisive policies of Trump's regime. Biden had passed 15 executive orders of undoing Trump's policies from immigration, climate, and health including repealing Trump's funding to build the border wall and removing the ban on the people of the seven Muslim majority countries from entering the United States.  Speaking to the reporters in Oval Office, Biden said, "With the state of the nation today, I thought it's no time to waste, get to work immediately. There's no time to start like today".