Jill Biden is shedding new light on what she describes as an uncomfortable and distant interaction with Melania Trump during Donald Trump's second inauguration, recounting the moment in her June 2025 memoir, 'A View from the East Wing.'
In the book's penultimate chapter, the former first lady reflects on January 20, 2025, as the Bidens prepared to hand over the White House after a turbulent election season and months of political clashes.
© Andrew HarnikBefore the day's events began, Biden revealed she carefully selected her outfit with unity in mind, ultimately choosing between two Ralph Lauren suits.
“The blue was an obvious political choice, but purple signified unity. I still believe in that,” she wrote. Despite that intention, Biden said the atmosphere between the outgoing and incoming first families remained strained.
After exchanging what she described as “pleasantries” and posing for the customary photograph at the White House, the Bidens and Trumps proceeded with inauguration traditions, including tea inside the residence before departing for the U.S. Capitol.
© JIM WATSONOne of the most memorable moments, according to Biden, unfolded during the traditional limousine ride shared by the two first ladies. Accompanying them was John Bessler, husband of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was assigned by the inauguration committee to join the journey.
“I don’t know how long this has been tradition, but it certainly helps with the awkwardness,” Biden wrote, adding that Bessler “must have drawn the shortest of all possible straws” when he was asked to do it.
“The presidents’ car was likely frosty too, but at least they’d spent considerable time in each other’s company,” she continued. “This would be one of few interactions Melania and I had ever had.”
© The Washington PostAccording to excerpts, Biden claimed Melania appeared unwilling to engage in conversation beyond brief remarks about the bitter winter weather.
The former first lady suggested that lingering resentment over the FBI's 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago may have contributed to the tension.
“Melania blamed Joe personally for the FBI searching through her private spaces at Mar-a-Lago,” Biden wrote.
© Jamie McCarthy“I have compassion for her, having been subject to the same kind of search,” Biden continued. “I knew how distressing it was to have agents rummage through your underwear drawer. “Poor John had to figure out how to break the tension and find some path to relative peace in the course of that drive.”
Bessler reportedly attempted to lighten the mood by asking Melania about her son Barron Trump's experience at New York University. The effort, Biden recalled, was met with a notably brief response. “NYU,” Melania said, looking out the window, clearly about to point to the clouds as a a way of segueing to a neutral topic.
Biden said Melania repeatedly redirected the discussion back to the weather throughout the ride. “Melania kept trying to switch the topic to the weather,” Biden wrote, explaining that she eventually “tried to get with Melania’s weather-only program” by commenting on the military dogs working outdoors during the ceremony and expressing concern for them in the freezing temperatures.
© Anna MoneymakerFollowing the inauguration, Biden recalled a brief exchange with the newly sworn-in president. “If Joe ever needs anything, call me!” Trump reportedly told her.
The Bidens later departed Washington for Joint Base Andrews before flying to Santa Ynez, California, where they stayed with friends away from public attention.
“Those first days of what I began to call the afterlife were difficult,” Biden wrote. “When we went into town, we saw big MAGA pickup parades. We had to turn the TV off because, when it was on, we saw that the new administration was undoing everything we’d fought for.”
© Joe RaedleElsewhere in the memoir, Biden also reflects on what she describes as another painful chapter following her departure from the White House: Donald Trump's renovation plans for the East Wing.
The former first lady said she received photographs documenting the demolition process and struggled to watch the changes unfold.
“During the demolition of the East Wing… I received pictures of the destruction step by step from people in D.C.,” Biden wrote. “I could barely look. The social offices, gutted. The military office, flattened. What had been my office, gone.”
© JACK GRUBERShe continued, “A major landmark and historic treasure was being treated like a fixer-upper on HGTV’s Property Brothers. It wasn’t the loss of the blue-and-white striped drapes, the velvet sofa, the bookshelves filled with memorabilia that pained me – it was the symbolic bulldozing of history and the eradication of institutional memory.
“I kept thinking of everyone across the country that took pride in that building. I felt a sense of loss and grief with every blow from the wrecking ball. The innards of the East Wing were spread out for everyone to see, like a rare and precious animal that had been hunted down and killed.”
The memoir also revisits other points of friction between the two first ladies, including Biden's claim that Melania declined her invitation to the traditional pre-inauguration tea in January 2021 and did not extend the same courtesy when the Trumps returned to the White House in 2025.
