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From denialism to deaththreats, Dr. Anthony S.Fauci describes afraught year as an advis-er to President Donald J.Trump on the Covid-19pandemic. Page A6.

An InterviewWith Fauci

The dog had a lot of work to do.He was co-starring in a political

ad that had to showcase the candi-date’s good-natured warmth. Butthe ad also needed to deflect anonslaught of racialized attackswithout engaging them directly,and to convey to white voters inGeorgia that the Black pastor wholed Ebenezer Baptist Churchcould represent them, too.

Of course, Alvin the beaglecouldn’t have known any of thatwhen he went for a walk with theRev. Raphael Warnock last fall asa film crew captured their time to-gether in a neighborhood outsideAtlanta.

Tugging a puffer-vest-clad Mr.Warnock for an idealized subur-ban stroll — bright sunshine,picket fencing, an American flag— Alvin would appear in severalof Mr. Warnock’s commercialspushing back against his Republi-can opponent in the recent Geor-gia Senate runoffs.

In perhaps the best known spot,Mr. Warnock, a Democrat, depos-its a plastic baggie of Alvin’s drop-

A Puppy So Cute He Helped Tug Georgians LeftBy SHANE GOLDMACHER Warnock Tactic Blocked

Rival’s Attack Ads

Continued on Page A16

The video call was announcedon short notice, but more than 900people quickly joined: a coalitionof union officials and racial justiceorganizers, civil rights lawyersand campaign strategists, pulledtogether in a matter of hours afterthe Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill.

They convened to craft a planfor answering the onslaught onAmerican democracy, and they

soon reached a few key decisions.They would stay off the streets forthe moment and hold back frommass demonstrations that couldbe exposed to an armed mobgoaded on by President Donald J.Trump.

They would use careful lan-guage. In a presentation, AnatShenker-Osorio, a liberal messag-ing guru, urged against calling theattack a “coup,” warning that theword could make Mr. Trumpsound far stronger than he was —or even imply that a pro-Trumpmilitia had seized power.

And they would demand sternpunishment for Mr. Trump and hisparty: Republicans at every level

How Liberals Rehearsed for Trump’s Power GrabBy ALEXANDER BURNS Sometimes, Best Move

Was No Move

Continued on Page A15

BERLIN — When insurrection-ists stormed the Capitol in Wash-ington this month, far-right extre-mists across the Atlantic cheered.Jürgen Elsässer, the editor of Ger-many’s most prominent far-rightmagazine, was watching live fromhis couch.

“We were following it like a soc-cer match,” he said.

Four months earlier, Mr. El-sässer had attended a march inBerlin, where a breakaway mob offar-right protesters tried — andfailed — to force their way into thebuilding that houses Germany’sParliament. The parallel was notlost on him.

“The fact that they actuallymade it inside raised hopes thatthere is a plan,” he said. “It wasclear that this was something big-ger.”

And it is. Adherents of racistfar-right movements around theworld share more than a commoncause. German extremists havetraveled to the United States forsniper competitions. Americanneo-Nazis have visited counter-parts in Europe. Militants fromdifferent countries bond in train-ing camps from Russia andUkraine to South Africa.

For years far-right extremiststraded ideology and inspiration onsocieties’ fringes and in the deep-est realms of the internet. Now,the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Cap-itol have laid bare their violent po-tential.

In chatter on their online net-works, many disavowed thestorming of the Capitol as ama-teurish bungling. Some echoedfalsehoods emanating fromQAnon-affiliated channels in theUnited States claiming that theriot had been staged by the left tojustify a clampdown on support-ers of President Donald J. Trump.But many others saw it as a teach-ing moment — about how to moveforward and pursue their goal ofoverturning democratic govern-ments in more concerted and con-crete ways.

It is a threat that intelligence of-ficials, especially in Germany,take seriously. So much so that im-mediately after the violence in theUnited States, the German au-thorities tightened securityaround the Parliament building inBerlin, where far-right protesters— waving many of the same flagsand symbols as the rioters inWashington — had tried to forcetheir way in on Aug. 29.

President Biden has also or-dered a comprehensive assess-ment of the threat from domesticviolent extremism in the UnitedStates.

For now, no concrete plans forattacks have been detected inGermany, officials said. But someworry that the fallout from theevents of Jan. 6 has the potential

GLOBAL FAR RIGHTSENSES POTENTIALIN RIOT AT CAPITOL

OVERLAPPING INTERESTS

Insurrection Fuels BothExhilaration and

Frustration

By KATRIN BENNHOLDand MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ

Continued on Page A10

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Car-olyn Zain had heard horror storiesabout the nation’s coronavirusvaccine rollout: long waits, clunkywebsites, people being turnedaway. So when her health depart-ment announced it was expandingappointments, she armed herselfwith two phones — cellphone inone hand, landline in the other —and held her breath.

Within 20 minutes, she secureda slot for the next day. She arrivedfor her 2 p.m. appointment andwas resting in a chair, a fresh shotin her arm, by 2:21 p.m.

“It went wonderfully,” said Ms.Zain, 79, who, after a year spentmostly home alone, wore a se-quined face mask that shimmeredlike confetti for her appointmentat a Charleston clinic last week.

Since the nation began distrib-uting vaccines more than a monthago, the rollout has moved farmore slowly than officials hopedand has been stymied by wide-spread logistical problems. ButWest Virginia has stood out for itssuccess in getting people vacci-nated. About 9 percent of all WestVirginians have received a firstdose of the coronavirus vaccine, alarger segment than in every statebut Alaska and double the rate ofsome. No state has given a largershare of its residents seconddoses, a crucial step to securingthe best chance at immunity.

While many states are strug-gling to hand out the shots that thefederal government has providedto them, West Virginia has givenout 83 percent of its doses, by faramong the highest. The patch-work system of distribution in thecountry is in its early weeks, andexperts say operations maychange significantly as vaccina-tions gear up further, but manystates so far have struggled togive even half of their allotted vac-cines. California and Rhode Islandhave used just 45 percent of theirs.

“West Virginia is about at thetop of the charts,” said Dr. Mark

West VirginiaSpeeds AheadOn Inoculation

But Shortages Stymie aParagon of Efficiency

By SARAH MERVOSH

Continued on Page A8

CHRIS GRAYTHEN/GETTY IMAGES

In his 10th N.F.L. title game, Tom Brady will face Kansas City, the defending champion. Pages D2-3.Super Bowl Is Set: Bucs vs. Chiefs

VINCENT YU/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Government workers in the Jordan district, which was locked down until midnight as officials tried to stem a worsening outbreak.Another Wave of Covid-19 Hits Hong Kong

WASHINGTON — It was NewYear’s Eve, but the Justice De-partment’s top leaders had little tocelebrate as they admonishedJeffrey Clark, the acting head ofthe civil division, for repeatedlypushing them to help PresidentDonald J. Trump undo his elector-al loss.

Huddled in the department’sheadquarters, they rebuked himfor secretly meeting with Mr.Trump, even as the departmenthad rebuffed the president’s out-landish requests for court filingsand special counsels, according to

six people with knowledge of themeeting. No official would host anews conference to say that fed-eral fraud investigations cast theresults in doubt, they told him. Noone would send a letter makingsuch claims to Georgia lawmak-ers.

When the meeting ended notlong before midnight, Acting At-torney General Jeffrey A. Rosen

thought the matter had been set-tled, never suspecting that hissubordinate would secretly dis-cuss the plan for the letter withMr. Trump, and very nearly takeMr. Rosen’s job, as part of a plotwith the president to wield the de-partment’s power to try to alterthe Georgia election outcome.

It was clear that night, though,that Mr. Clark — with his willing-ness to entertain conspiracy theo-ries about voting booth hacks andelection fraud — was not the es-tablishment lawyer they thoughthim to be. Some senior depart-ment leaders had considered himquiet, hard-working and detail-

Low-Key Lawyer’s Puzzling Path to Center of PlotBy KATIE BENNER

and CHARLIE SAVAGEJustice Dept. Is in Shock

Over Rogue Attemptto Undo Election

Continued on Page A13

Beijing’s rush for antisatellitearms began 15 years ago. Now, itcan threaten the orbital fleets thatgive the United States military itstechnological edge. Advancedweapons at China’s military basescan fire warheads that smash sat-ellites and can shoot laser beamsthat have a potential to blind ar-rays of delicate sensors.

And China’s cyberattacks can,at least in theory, cut off the Penta-gon from contact with fleets of sat-ellites that track enemy move-ments, relay communicationsamong troops and provide infor-mation for the precise targeting ofsmart weapons.

Among the most important na-tional security issues now facingPresident Biden is how to contendwith the threat that China poses tothe U.S. military in space and, byextension, terrestrial forces thatrely on the overhead platforms.

The Biden administration hasyet to indicate what it plans to dowith President Donald J. Trump’slegacy in this area: the SpaceForce, a new branch of the mili-tary that has been criticized as anexpensive and ill-advised escala-tion that could lead to a dangerousnew arms race.

Mr. Trump presented the initia-tive as his own, and it now suffersfrom an association with him andremains the brunt of jokes on tele-vision. But its creation was alsothe culmination of strategicchoices by his predecessors, Pres-idents George W. Bush andBarack Obama, to counter an em-boldened China that raised bipar-tisan alarm.

“There’s been a dawning real-

U.S. CountersSpace Threat

From ChinaBy WILLIAM J. BROAD

Continued on Page A17

In a new biopic on the Lifetime net-work, members of the group that roseto fame in 1980s New York get a chanceto tell their own story. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Salt-N-Pepa, the MovieThe sport is catching on with children inrural Alaska despite the conditions andthe prospect of polar bears. PAGES D4-5

SPORTSMONDAY D1-8

Eager to Ski at 40 BelowCatching spiny lobsters is stunninglydangerous for the fishermen alongNicaragua’s Caribbean coast. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A9-11

Deadly Dives for Dinner

A failure to distribute the Covid-19vaccine in poor nations will worseneconomic damage, with half the costsborne by wealthy countries, new re-search shows. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

Unequal Vaccination’s CostPreliminary data indicating a spreadingcoronavirus variant may be deadlierhas helped to quiet dissent over restric-tions that may be prolonged. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8

Heightened Concerns in U.K.

Companies that moved employeesonline, along with their communica-tions, are facing the same problems asthe rest of the internet. Now they arescrambling to respond. PAGE B1

The Online Troll Is a Co-Worker

The Kremlin adjusts as Aleksei A. Na-valny gives disgruntled Russians aclear leader to rally around. PAGE A11

Protests Raise Dissident’s Status

Local officials in Montana are hopingthat “Amtrak Joe” will help fund newtrain service. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-17

Dreaming of Revived Rails

Questions arise about the candidates’summer homes, ranked-choice votingand ties to casino interests. PAGE A16

New York’s Mayoral GantletKobe Bryant was killed a year ago, buthis coaching helped give an opponent’sdaughter a bright future. PAGE D1

N.B.A. Legend’s Living Legacy

Charles M. Blow PAGE A18EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,949 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021

Today, sunny early, afternoon highclouds, high 40. Tonight, turningcloudy, low 30. Tomorrow, cloudy,snow, 1 to 3 inches in most areas,high 34. Weather map is on Page D8.

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