WASHINGTON — Former first lady Jill Biden said in a newly released memoir that a car ride with first lady Melania Trump during President Donald Trump’s January 2025 inauguration was marked by strained conversation and limited interaction, according to excerpts published this week.
The account appears in Biden’s memoir, View From the East Wing, which was released on June 2. In the book, Biden describes the traditional inauguration-day motorcade ride from the White House to the U.S. Capitol, during which outgoing and incoming first ladies travel together as part of the presidential transition.
Biden wrote that the ride was “frosty,” reflecting what she described as a distant relationship between the two women. According to excerpts reported by several media outlets, Biden said the pair had spent little time together before the inauguration and that their conversations over the years had been limited.
In the memoir, Biden said John Bessler, the husband of Senator Amy Klobuchar, accompanied the two women during the ride and attempted to keep the conversation moving. Biden wrote that questions about family members and other topics were met with brief responses and that Melania Trump “kept trying to switch the topic to the weather.”
“The presidents’ car was likely frosty too, but at least they’d spent considerable time in each other’s company,” Biden wrote in the memoir, according to published excerpts.
The memoir also recounts other interactions between the two former first ladies. Biden wrote that Melania Trump declined certain traditional transition activities and described their relationship as cordial but limited. Published excerpts indicate Biden also recalled a phone conversation with Melania Trump after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Representatives for Melania Trump declined to comment on Biden’s account when contacted by Business Insider, according to the publication. No public response from Melania Trump’s office had been reported as of Thursday.
The memoir is one of several books released after the end of President Joe Biden’s administration and contains Biden’s reflections on her time as first lady, the 2024 election cycle and the transition of power in January 2025.
As of June 5, neither the White House nor representatives for the first lady had issued additional statements regarding the memoir’s description of the inauguration-day ride.
