Jill Biden's Final Moments in the White House: Former First Lady Forced to Buy Mementos or Risk Items Being 'Crushed' by Trump Administration
Jill Biden claims she wasn't alerted until the last minute than items left behind in the East Wing would be 'crushed' if she didn't buy them.
Sept. 1 2026, Published 7:40 p.m. ET
Jill Biden has revealed she got the heartbreaking instructions during her final hours in the White House that she had a chance to "buy" any remaining items before anything with the name "Biden" on it was going to be taken away and "crushed," RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former first lady, 75, made the startling discovery hours before Donald Trump was to be sworn in as the nation's 47th president in January 2025, telling Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his Dinner's On Me podcast that she rushed to purchase mementos from her four years there.
Jill Biden's Dramatic 'Last Hours' of Joe's Term Revealed
Jill Biden was told to purchased East Wing items she wanted before they were to be 'crushed' by the Trump administration.
"Somebody from the State Department called me and said, the last hours we're in the White House, 'Jill, is there anything you want from the shelves?' Because, you know, they sell things like glasses or pictures or vases, things like that," she explained to Ferguson.
"She was with her phone, like, 'Do you want this? Do you want this? Do you want this?' Because anything with the name Biden on it, the day or the day after we were out of office, they took and crushed everything," former President Joe Biden's wife of 49 years shared,
'The Next Administration Coming In Is Going to Crush Everything'
Jill Biden claimed the State Department told her anything she left behind at the White House would be 'crushed.'
"That's why she was saying, 'What do you want to buy?' Because, and buy it full price, by the way. What do you want to buy? Full price," Jill sneered, about being told to buy the White House memories or lose them forever.
The former educator was told, "The next administration coming in is going to crush everything on these shelves," which Jill scoffed at.
"I mean, it's kind of almost rude and arrogant, right?" she asked Ferguson, who agreed with her.
The Modern Family alum wanted to know, "So, wait, did this happen after (Barack) Obama's administration as well?" but Jill didn't know whether the former First Family's possessions were also disposed of when Trump moved into the White House for the first time in 2017.
"But they warned me it was happening after ours," she noted.
Jill Biden Bought 'Tons of Stuff' on Her Way Out of the White House
Jill Biden sneered at the State Department rules about accepting gifts from foreign dignitaries.
"I bought tons of stuff," Jill said about her White House haul. "And I give it as gifts or give it to my kids, my grandkids, that sort of thing."
She blasted the State Department's rules barring officials from accepting gifts worth more than $400 from foreign dignitaries as "archaic," and revealed even a piece of war shrapnel from the Ukraine war was slapped with a staggering five-figure valuation.
"I was gifted a piece of shrapnel from the Ukraine war, and I didn't think anything of it, and I thought, 'Well, this is kind of interesting. I'll keep this,' And then the State Department said, 'Oh, no, you won't.' I think they appraised that at $20,000. I'm like, 'You're crazy,'" she said about the price tag.
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Jill Biden Claims Melania Trump Left the East Wing 'Dingy and Dull'
Jill Biden claimed her predecessor, Melania Trump, hadn't used the East Wing offices and left them 'dingy.'
Jill also didn't mince words about how her predecessor, Melania Trump, didn't appear to have used the East Wing, where the First Lady's offices are located.
"When we moved in there, um, the previous inhabitant hadn't used the office to work in. It was kind of dingy and dull, and I said, 'I can't bring people here,'" she snarked without directly naming the former model.
Jill said she called famed interior designer Mark Sikes and told him, "I want people to come in and feel that it's elegant, but to feel comfortable, like they can sort of plop on the couch."
Referring to how President Trump tore down the East Wing to build his grand ballroom during his second term, Jill said, "Had I known that this was going to happen, I would have purchased like everything in that office and taken it with me. But who knew?"
