It is expected that Jeff Zients, who served as the leader of US President Joe Biden’s COVID task force, will be named the next chief of staff at the White House.
According to a report from the New York Times, the current chief of staff, Ron Klain, is planning to step down after the president delivers his State of the Union address on February 7. As per reports from the US media, an announcement was reportedly expected on Monday. We attempted to get Mr. Zients to comment on the reports, but he declined.
The position is widely regarded within the White House as being among the most important there is. The chief of staff is accountable for driving the policy agenda of the president as well as hiring staff members.
Mr. Zients resigned from his position as the COVID policy coordinator in April of last year, but he has since returned to the organization to assist with the midterm elections in November.
He served in a variety of administrations, including that of Barack Obama, for whom he was an economic advisor in 2009. In the private sector, he made a fruitless effort to acquire ownership of the Washington Nationals but ultimately abandoned the endeavor.
Mr. Zients was given praise for his work as the COVID coordinator while he was in charge of the nationwide immunization campaign; yet, he was met with criticism from those who believed that the administration did not do enough to increase testing.
His return to the White House takes place at a vital time for the President of the United States, as his staff is just beginning to focus their attention on preparing for a possible re-election campaign in 2024.
A special counsel investigation is currently being conducted into the manner in which President Biden handled confidential materials that were discovered at his private office and at his home in Delaware.
According to a story in the Washington Post, a number of Democrats had held out hope that Mr. Biden would select a woman for the post.
Mr. Klain held the record for serving as chief of staff for the longest amount of time under any Democratic president. For a number of years, he served as one of Mr. Biden’s most trusted assistants, both in the Senate and during Mr. Biden’s time as vice president.
In addition to that, he served as a senior adviser to Barack Obama and worked as a copywriter and advisor for Joe Biden’s unsuccessful runs for the White House in 1988 and 2008.
In his four years as president of the United States, Donald Trump went through four different chiefs of staff.