“It Was Horrific”: A Situation Room Officer’s Harrowing Account of an American Insurrection

Insurrection • Trump Show • More Brain Worms [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( “It Was Horrific”: A Situation Room Officer’s Harrowing Account of an American Insurrection Good morning. Thirty-nine months ago, Congress was slated to certify the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. But as you likely recall, Donald Trump, the incumbent he’d beaten the previous November, was doing everything possible to prevent it from happening. In [an excerpt]( from George Stephanopoulos’s new book, The Situation Room, Mike Stiegler, a desk officer in the White House Situation Room, recounts the series of events that took place on January 6, 2021, and led to a continuity-of-government situation. “The most harrowing part?” writes Stephanopoulos, “How close we came to losing the vice president,” Stiegler recalled. Elsewhere, Dan Adler has [the latest]( on day two of Stormy Daniels’s testimony in Trump’s hush money trial in Lower Manhattan, where spectacle was never in short form. Plus, Inside the Hive [explores]( the cultural impact of Black Twitter as well as Prentice Penny’s new docuseries, Black Twitter: A People’s History, based on Jason Parham’s 2021 feature for Wired. Thanks for reading. [Image may contain: Donald Trump, Kate Beaton, Clothing, Glove, Helmet, Adult, Person, Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie, and Baby]( [“It Was Horrific”: A Situation Room Officer’s Harrowing Account of an American Insurrection]( By [George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey]( [In an excerpt of George Stephanopoulos’s new book, The Situation Room, Mike Stiegler recalls how Donald Trump whipped up a “surreal” storm that put the White House’s emergency protocols into action: “We went into a continuity-of-government situation.”]( [Read more button](   [Stormy Daniels Put on a Show in Second Day of Trump Testimony]( By [Dan Adler]( [A cross-examination of the woman at the heart of the former president’s hush money cover-up trial drew a frenzied media to Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday. Daniels did not disappoint.]( [Read more button](   [Why Black Twitter Isn’t Fleeing Elon Musk’s X]( By [Brian Stelter]( [A new docuseries on Hulu explores the history and cultural impact of Black Twitter.]( [Read more button](   [Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Claims He Could “Eat 5 More Brain Worms” and “Still” Beat Biden and Trump in a Debate]( By [Bess Levin]( [“I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap.”]( [Read more button](   [What Does Biden’s “Red Line” Mean for the Israel-Hamas War?]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The president on Wednesday said the US will be “walking away” from Israel’s offensive if it expands its operation in Rafah—but questions remain about the specifics of his potential policy shift.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2024 Condé Nast