'Too stunned to respond': What Trump said to Biden behind closed doors

In a new book excerpt published in The Atlantic, Joe Biden opens up about an encounter with President Donald Trump that left him baffled.

“I escorted him into the Oval Office for our formal meeting, accompanied only by our chiefs of staff, Jeff Zients and Susie Wiles. He and I sat in chairs near a roaring fire; Jeff and Susie sat on sofas. Trump was immediately chatty and surprised me by adopting a tone so friendly that I thought he might be putting me on. It bordered on fawning,” he wrote.

“You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends,” the former president recalled Trump saying. Biden then wrote that he was “too stunned” to respond.

“Yes, if it weren’t for politics, we’d spend all our time golfing together,” he recalled Trump saying.

Surprisingly, Trump also complimented Biden’s performance as president, calling his job creation “extraordinary.” The former president also said that Trump told him he was relieved he didn’t have to run against him.

“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 wrote.

Biden then said he wanted to give Trump information on the issues that would affect his presidency, such as the Ukraine war, NATO, Russia, and the Middle East. Biden then noted that Trump focused on the personalities of world leaders in a gossipy way, rather than focusing on the issues.

He also recalled that the conversation, which was scheduled for 30 minutes, ended up lasting close to two hours.

In the Atlantic piece, Biden shared his concerns about Trump’s “dismissive and destructive nature” and how it would affect the policies he left after his term ended, noting how Trump reversed many of his decisions on day one of his return to office.

Biden then criticized Trump for granting sweeping clemency to more than 1,500 defendants in cases stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, including people convicted of attacking police officers.

He wrote that Trump “led an insurrection” and called out the president and his supporters for what he described as phony support of law enforcement, before writing: “What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave.”

Biden also blasted the president for his lies, including his first day back in office when Trump claimed he defeated him in the 2020 election. He also accused Trump of taking a "wrecking ball" to American "traditions and institutions." The article was adapted from Biden's upcoming book, Promise Me, America.