January 5, 2022

As rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, threatening the lives of Vice President Mike Pence, lawmakers, and police there, most of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s senior advisers were isolated from their boss.

Covid precautions had forced them to scatter in Washington and elsewhere across the country. And so they watched mostly separately on television as the pro-Donald Trump mob raged through the Capitol on a mission to overturn the lawfully cast votes of the electorate that had resulted in their boss’ win.

Biden White House officials, lawmakers and close presidential allies in interviews describe a chaotic day, filled with phone calls and last-minute audibles as they fine-tuned the speech he would give from 100 miles away. They quickly internalized that the day would have a lasting imprint on their work: from the remarks Biden gave that day to the agenda he would go on to pursue once in office.

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