2:28
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Monday if Trump had spoken to Biden directly following Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis.
\"Not to my knowledge, I don't believe they have spoken, but I'm sure the president would be open to doing that,\" Leavitt said. \"I spoke to him last night about the former president's cancer diagnosis and the statement that he put out was the initial reaction he had with me on the phone as well.\"
Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday, \"Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/joe-jill-biden-gty-jef-250519_1747656163432_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Biden's cancer diagnosis comes after a small nodule was found in the former president's prostate after \"a routine physical exam,\" a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The discovery of the nodule \"necessitated further evaluation,\" his spokesperson said at the time.
The sentiment in Joe Biden's social media post about being stronger in the \"broken places\" is derived from a well-worn line in \"A Farewell to Arms,\" a novel by Ernest Hemingway, which says, \"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.\" It's a citation that Biden has often applied in difficult and important moments, both in his life and for the general public.
Biden used the phrase in 2016, as he opened his speech at the Democratic National Convention. He then quoted the line in March 2021, as the country marked the first anniversary of the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. And he repeated it in September 2021, on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, using Hemingway's words in his tribute to the victims.
ABC News' Averi Harper, Brittany Shepherd, Eric M. Strauss and Leah Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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