Biden faces an unprecedented challenge with a clear – and quiet – plan.

President Joe Biden's silence in the wake of the Manhattan grand jury's indictment of former President Donald Trump was intentional. Biden's presidency has been shaped by extraordinary moments in US history, such as the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a twice-impeached former president who attempted to overturn a presidential election, a once-in-a-century pandemic, and the largest land war in Europe in 80 years. Biden faces a convergence of two clear principles of his first two years in office: don't engage in ongoing legal cases and don't get distracted by issues that don't have a tangible effect on Americans. This contrast is designed to keep the administration's focus on its priorities and agenda, but it is also a political message. Biden has pledged to bring down the political pressure that threatened to fracture the country under Trump’s watch, but his strategy will now be tested by a new front in the partisan warfare that has animated Trump’s campaigns and presidency. Officials maintain there have still been no briefings or warnings that suggest the threat of violence is imminent, despite Trump’s social media posts over the last two weeks. Biden will travel to Mississippi on Friday morning to survey the aftermath of catastrophic storm damage and next week, he and his top Cabinet officials will continue their carefully planned, weekslong travel blitz to highlight his sweeping legislative wins of the first two year. Biden hasn’t communicated to his advisers whether he will run for reelection, but behind-the-scenes advisers say the planning and build-out of the campaign they all expect to launch continues unabated. In the days after Trump declared without evidence that he expected to be indicted, Biden’s advisers declined to gauge its effect on any political race given the early stage of the 2024 campaign. The news of Joe Biden's indictment on Thursday night shocked officials inside the White House. Biden's national security team was engaged in urgent and intensive efforts to obtain information about Russia's detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges rejected by the news organization and the White House. Biden's economic team pressed forward on proposals sent to federal regulators to tighten bank rules in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. A group of House Democrats met with senior White House officials to discuss the implementation of Biden's legislative accomplishments. Biden was briefed by his national security team in the morning on the detained reporter and later met in the Oval Office with Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player who nearly died on the football field in a game last season. Officials declined to provide a window into how Biden heard of the indictment news, or what he was doing in the hours after.