The final speech will be aired five days before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
President Joe Biden will address the nation twice more before handing over the reins to President-elect Donald Trump.
Biden will make a farewell speech from the Oval Office on Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. ET, the White House said Friday, without elaborating on what the president will discuss.
The farewell address will occur two days after another speech on Jan. 13 at the State Department, where Biden is expected to focus on his foreign policy legacy.
“He has some thoughts on the future, not just of the country, but how this country moves forward as a leader, when you think about global events, important global issues,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday at a press briefing. “And certainly he will lay that out.”
Jean-Pierre noted that Biden will likely touch on key developments in the world, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
“You could reassure there are major events happening right now … and many other important matters that he’s going to certainly lean into,” she said.
Departing presidents have traditionally used their farewell addresses to reflect on their legacy, outline their administration’s achievements, and share hopes for the nation’s future.
The tradition dates back to President George Washington, whose written address to the young nation in 1796 famously warns at length of the dangers of political parties, including how parties fighting for power would foster a “spirit of revenge” in America as power shifts from one party to another.
Live primetime farewell speeches from the Oval Office have become a fixture for many modern presidencies since President Harry Truman set the precedent in 1953. President Richard Nixon, the only president ever to resign, announced the decision live from the Oval Office, with its iconic blue-draped windows in the background.
Other presidents have used different settings to issue their final remarks: President George H. W. Bush spoke from the West Point military academy after losing his re-election bid, while President Barack Obama addressed the nation from the McCormick Place convention center in his hometown of Chicago.
Four years ago, Trump delivered a 20-minute pre-recorded farewell message, saying his administration did what it came to do.
“I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices because that’s what you elected me to do,” he said in the video.
Trump, now set to begin his second term, will be inaugurated on Monday, Jan. 20, which coincides with this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day.