[The following is the transcript of the interview conducted between Sandra Sobieraj Westfall and Joe and Jill Biden on January 27, 2021. The interview was published in the February 15, 2021 edition of People Magazine, and excerpts appeared online on February 2, 2021. A spokesperson for People Magazine stated though the interview was recorded, the full recording would not be made public.] Is the White House starting to feel like home? It's surreal... but it's comfortable. We were here for eight years, just not in this part of the residence. Spent a lot of time in the Cabinet Room and the Oval with the President. So upstairs is new. The residence staff has been so great, trying to make it feel like home for us. We have family pictures all around, our books, some furniture we brought from home. And you brought bunk beds for the grandchildren? We used to have two sets of bunk beds at home. They outgrew them. Although we now have one little 10-month-old. So there's a room with a crib! Like so many American grandparents, you've been unable to hug them all year, except when they went through seven days of quarantine and testing for the election and Inauguration. That's right. Two of our grandchildren live only a half mile from our home in Delaware, so they'd come over, sit outside on the lawn, and we'd talk to them from the porch and eat ice cream. I was bribing them with my Häagen-Dazs. [Laughs] Your Inauguration was like no other before and hopefully no other again. What was it like for you to step out on that West Front of the Capitol and see that sea of flags where thousands of people should have been? This was maybe one of the most consequential Inaugurations in a long, long time -- not because I was being sworn in, but in the sense of what the state of the nation is, between everything from COVID to unemployment to racial inequality. We wanted to make sure that as many Americans could participate as possible, and it turns out millions of people watched it. We have such an incredible opportunity as a country now. Not because of me but because the American people sort of had the blinders ripped off, and they realized that, man, we have problems, but we also have enormous opportunities. And I don't mean to interrupt, but I thought it was really uplifting -- from the musical talent to the poet to Joe's speech offering hope to all Americans. So even though we were in a pandemic, it just felt so positive to me. What was your favorite moment? Certainly I loved Amanda Gorman! The whole day seemed so surreal, but it hit me at that moment when they opened those doors that Joe walked out to go and be sworn in. I could feel this lump in my throat, and two of my grandkids said, "Nana, we saw that it hit you." That was so funny because I thought I was hiding it so well, but that was the moment it became real for me. For me, it was being sworn in, looking at the Chief and seeing Jill hold the Bible, our son and daughter standing there, and I could see behind them my grandchildren. It just made me feel so proud that we were all part of history here -- -- together. For us, family is the beginning, middle and end. And Jill's going to warn me not to say this because I sometimes get emotional, but it meant so much that Beau was there -- our son Beau, who was an incredible man. He was there in his namesake, his nephew Beau-y. It just seemed -- -- complete. You danced with your baby grandson that night, here in this room. And I can't dance very well. [Laughs] No. [Laughs] It was just a little family dance party -- no Inaugural ball or big afterparty. No place that I would have rather been than with the kids. It was still magical. From the time each of these children were born, their grandfather had been either a United States senator or a Vice President, their dad had been the attorney general or abroad as a major in the United States military. And they had to learn to be happy and grieve in public. There is no private time for them. So when we got in the White House, I remember opening the door and walking through, and it was like, "Okay, it's us. It's us." The excitement was palpable. You know your granddaughters are big stars on social media -- Oh yeah. We're trying to curtail that a little bit. Do you notice in any of them the budding seeds of taking over the family business someday? Maybe one of them -- I don't know that they ever want to run for office, but I can say this as a grandpa: They're so damn informed. Our oldest grandchild, Naomi, named after my deceased daughter, she is a lawyer now. Graduated from Columbia Law School. My No. 2, Finnegan Biden, I call her my secret weapon. This kid is more informed, I promise you, than the vast majority of people that I engage with. As is our No. 3, Maisy. She's in college. It's kind of like if you were raised in a family where your mom was the president of a bank, you'd know about mortgages. With them, we've never separated them from what we've done. So they've met everybody that comes in our orbit, and they have a sense of obligation, like our daughter. She's a social worker, and she's saving the world. They've never known anything but public office, public service. You wrote in "Promise Me Dad" that the two of you grow stronger and closer under pressure. We've seen public marriages -- in politics especially -- crumble under stress. So what is your secret? She has a backbone like a ramrod. Everybody says marriage is 50/50. Well, sometimes you have to be 70/30. Thank God that when I'm really down, she steps in, and when she's really down, I'm able to step in. We've been really supportive of one another. I've read all that data as well about families under pressure, and that's why I'm glad she kept her profession. It's really important that she's an educator, although she took off two years when we first got married because the boys were little. It's important that she has the things that she cares a great deal about, her independence. And yet we share each other's dreams. All that we've been through together -- the highs, the lows and certainly tragedy and loss -- there's that quote that says sometimes you become stronger in the fractured places. That's what we try to achieve. Could you do this job without her? We each could do our jobs, but not as well as we do them. I don't think I would have stayed involved in public life. Jill came along at a really important point and put my family back together. She's the glue that held it together, and I knew that I wanted to marry her shortly after I met her. When I first became Vice President, it was Valentine's Day, and the night before, Jill got the maintenance people to bring a 16-ft. ladder to my office, and she took that kind of paint that kids use in school -- -- poster paint -- -- and in every pane -- there's like 20 panes in each of these four windows that are 15 ft. high -- she drew hearts and "Joe loves Jill." A reporter told me that day, "Everybody says you and your wife have a great love affair," and I said I think so. It's not that we don't fight and argue sometimes. I'm just lucky. Well, after 43 years of marriage there's really not that much more to fight about. [Laughs] And any pranks here in the White House? I know that you're the practical joker -- Oh God, don't get her going, please. [Laughs] Not yet. Stay tuned! On Inauguration night you were wearing a wrist corsage. Was that your husband's doing? Yes! It started a long time ago -- I love gardenias, and so Joe would buy me a wrist corsage of gardenias. For every single special occasion. I think it's important to -- and Jill does the same thing -- let each other know that no matter how much time has gone by, she comes down the steps, and my heart still goes a little boom boom boom boom. For real. And is she a romantic? She is romantic, but I'm the one that is the seeker all the time. She makes me work for it. She's a very independent woman who wants a very traditional man who comes in on a white horse who's going to make sure everything works out all right. Given the stakes in the pandemic and the economic crisis, do you lean into prayer to help you lead? I don't want to proselytize. My religion, for me, is a safe place. I never miss mass, because I can be alone. I mean, I'm with my family but just kind of absorbing the fundamental principle that you've got to treat everyone with dignity. Jill, when she wants me to get a real message, she tapes it on the mirror above the sink where I shave. And she put up a great quote from Kierkegaard saying, "Faith sees best in the dark." Other people may meditate. For me, prayer gives me hope, and it centers me. Both of you have had a very busy first week, and, Mr. President, Vice President Kamala Harris has been at your side for most of it. Does she have drop-in privileges at the Oval Office? Sure she does. I made the same deal with her that Barack and I made: I wanted her available to participate in everything that I did; I wanted her to be the last person in the room on every important decision. We have lunch alone once a week -- that's the deal -- when we're both in-country, which we'll be for a while because of COVID. I see her all the time. I was so proud when Joe chose a woman to be his Vice President, and I think it meant so much to all women across this country. You also got right to work as First Lady and are also teaching classes. I teach writing. I taught all eight years that I was Second Lady. That's my passion, that's my life. The thing that surprises me is how much energy Jill gets from her students. The students she teaches, these are foreign students or people who weren't the people who graduated from high school, but they're remaking their lives. It's an inspiration. It's energy for Jill, but it's a lot of work. One of the first things you did as President was sign tough new ethics rules for appointees. As a father who saw Hunter's come under scrutiny, are you putting up guardrails for family and friends, too, to avoid any appearance of wrongdoing? We're going to run this like the Obama-Biden Administration. No one in our family and extended family is going to be involved in any government undertaking or foreign policy. And nobody has an office in this place. They always have access to Pop and Nana, but nobody -- I remember years ago an accountant said, "You know, you can charge part of the gas you use in the vehicle at your home." And I said no. Here's how I look at it: The foul line is 15 ft. away from the basket. Never get me closer than 17 ft., because it really is a matter of the public trust. And we need to rebuild that trust in government. You said the other day that Donald Trump has to stand trial in the Senate on the impeachment charges -- otherwise "there would be a worse effect if it didn't happen." What would be the worse effect? He was impeached by the House, and it has to move forward; otherwise it makes a mockery of the system. It's probably not likely to get 17 Republicans to change their view and convict on impeachment, but I think it's important that there be certain basic standards. I'm not looking for any retribution. My job is to try to heal the country and move us forward, because I think we have so many opportunities as a country. Where do you think the country will be at this time next year? I hope we have fundamentally returned to normal as it relates to COVID -- and it's going to be hard, because they're predicting another 100,000-150,000 dead unless we take precautions, even with the vaccine. I hope we have really begun to make inroads on equity for all people... where they can have decent jobs and decent opportunities, and the economy is growing, and people are back to a degree of optimism about themselves and their families. That's our prayer.