As expressed in a report put out this past Sunday, President Joe Biden is expected to appoint a former COVID czar to take on the role as his next chief of staff.
A number of sources explained to The Washington Post that Jeff Zients would be named as the person to fill the slot vacated by Ron Klain, who is expected to step down as chief of staff over the next few weeks. A formal announcement has not yet been made as of writing.
Zients previously worked as COVID response coordinator for the entire first year of the Biden administration, heading up the initiatives to promote vaccinations. Back in the spring of 2022, when Biden openly announced that Ashish Jha would take on the role instead of Zients, the president openly praise Zients as “a man of service and an expert manager.”
As of writing, the White House still has not released its own statement about the change in chief of staff. However, senior administration officials explained ot The New York Times that Klain has been secretly telling his colleagues that he was preparing to step down since back during the midterm elections.
A number of insiders explained to The Washington Post that Zients went back to the White House this past fall to assist Klain with the staff changes in the wake of the 2022 elections. Klain has been putting Zients on a number of projects, which some people close to them have viewed as Klain making preparations for Zients for the chief of staff spot, explained the report.
Zients established his role as a very wealthy investor who ended up taking on various senior roles in the Obama administration and served on the board of directors for Facebook. One analysis from the Wall Street Journal in March of 2021 highlighted that Zients listed assets sporting a worth of close to $89.3 million, placing him as one of the richest of the top aides for Biden.
If he does end up securing the role as chief of staff, Zients will take over the spot as Biden is being forced to deal with a growing controversy about how he has been handling classified documents.
The White House has repeatedly insisted that the president and his legal team are trying to entirely cooperate with officials from the National Archives and the Justice Department as an investigation turns up even more classified documents inside of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and a think tank office which was used as far back as during his time in the Senate.
