AP sources: Biden will choose Zients as his next chief of staff

WASHINGTON. President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Jeff Zients, who led the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic early in Biden’s term, as his next chief of staff, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Biden’s current top aide, Ron Klein, is preparing to leave office in the coming weeks.

After serving as COVID-19 response coordinator, Zients returned to the White House in a modest position to handle personnel matters for the remainder of Biden’s first term.

Two people familiar with the matter were not authorized to publicly discuss Biden’s plans prior to the official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post first reported on Zienz’s pending appointment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Changes at the highest levels of senior staff come as Biden passes his two-year milestone in office and turns defensive against a House Republican majority eager to investigate the actions of his administration and his family. The White House is still mired in controversy over the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former Washington D.C. institute, with the latest set of records unearthed Saturday night.

Biden, 80, is also poised to launch his re-election campaign in the coming weeks, bolstered by a string of legislative breakthroughs in the first two years of his presidency, when Democrats controlled both houses of Capitol Hill. He is opposed by a Republican presidential field that is far from mature but is currently led by former President Donald Trump, whom Biden defeated in 2020.

In addition to Zients, the President’s core circle of policy and legislative advisors will continue to include Presidential Advisor Steve Ricchetti, Senior Advisors Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, Legislative Director Louise Terrell, and Jan O’Malley Dillon and Bruce Reed. who are deputy chiefs of staff.

Klein will remain in Biden’s political orbit, according to a person familiar with his plans — not unlike the role played by Cedric Richmond, who was the first presidential director of the White House Office of Public Affairs and is now a senior adviser to the National Democratic Party. . The committee.

The outgoing chief of staff was also known for his friendship with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. But some liberal critics of Zients were quick to oppose the appointment even before it was made official, highlighting in particular his ties to the private sector.

Jeff Houser, founder and director of the Revolving Door Project, a progressive group that advocates for liberal appointees in government, said Sunday that the selection of Zients as the top White House aide does not fit with Biden’s “Scranton Joe” political image.

“Unfortunately, Zients is a veteran of private equity, voracious healthcare providers and big tech, which raises a fundamental question that could determine Biden’s political future: Will an executive under Zients pursue the unpopular wrongdoings of people like Jeffrey Zients? ‘ Hauser said. “It would be against the character of Zients to go after corporate breaking the law, but it’s also the only way Biden can keep the populist mantle against the likes of (Florida Gov. Ron) DeSantis and Trump.”

“Ron Klein was an open and candid conversationalist for the Democrats,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. hope and expectation. There will most likely be an early relationship and a trust-building phase.”

Zients, vice chairman of Biden’s transition department since his election in November 2020, has significant managerial experience in government and the private sector. He was director of the National Economic Council during the Obama administration and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The longtime management consultant earned a reputation as Mr. Fix It and led the Obama administration’s efforts to rebuild HealthCare.gov after the site’s failed initial launch in the fall of 2013. consulting firm.

Former President Barack Obama also enlisted the support of Zients in 2009 to close the backlog in the Cash for Clunkers program, which offered discounts to drivers who traded old cars for fuel-efficient vehicles. Zients later took on a similar task to make it easier to register for an updated version of the GI Bill.

Another perk for White House aides: Zients, who was the original investor in Call Your Mother, a bagel store in Washington, had a penchant for hosting “Wednesday bagels” for employees. (Zienz sold his shares before joining the White House in 2021.)

Zients and his deputy on the White House Pandemic Response Team, Natalie Quillian, left the Biden administration last April before quietly returning in the fall of 2022. As he left, Biden thanked him for his “staggering” and “consistent” progress against the pandemic.

“When Jeff took this job, less than 1% of Americans were fully vaccinated; less than half of our schools were open; and, unlike much of the developed world, there were no home COVID tests in America,” Biden said when the White House announced Zients’ departure last year. “Today almost 80% of adults are fully vaccinated; raised more than 100 million; almost every school is open; and hundreds of millions of home tests are distributed every month.”