Biden Covid Tsar To Replace Klain as Chief of Staff: Reports

Since serving as Covid response coordinator, Mr. Zients has returned to the White House in a low-profile position to work on staffing matters for the remainder of Mr. Biden’s first term.

AP/Patrick Semansky
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients speaks at a press briefing at the White House. AP/Patrick Semansky

President Biden is expected to name Jeff Zients, who ran the administration’s response to the Covid pandemic at the start of Mr. Biden’s term, as his next chief of staff, multiple media outlets reported Sunday.

Mr. Biden’s current top aide, Ron Klain, is preparing to leave the job in the coming weeks.

Since serving as Covid response coordinator, Mr. Zients has returned to the White House in a low-profile position to work on staffing matters for the remainder of Mr. Biden’s first term.

The two people familiar with the matter were not authorized to publicly discuss Mr. Biden’s plans before an official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity the the Associated Press. The announcement is expected Monday.

The Washington Post first reported on Mr. Zients’ expected appointment.

Mr. Klain’s expected departure comes not long after the White House and Democrats had a better-than-expected showing in the November elections.

The personnel change is also a rarity for an administration that has had minimal turnover so far. Halfway through his term, no member of Mr. Biden’s Cabinet has stepped down.

Mr Klain sent an email to White House staff on Friday, which was the second anniversary of Mr. Biden’s inauguration. “Although much work remains ahead, as we look back on these two years, I am awestruck at what this team has done and how you have done it,” he wrote in the email, obtained by The Associated Press.

Now that Republicans have regained a majority in the House, the White House is preparing to shift to a more defensive posture. GOP lawmakers are planning multiple investigations into the Biden administration, examining everything from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan to the crisis at the border. Republicans are also pledging to investigate the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

Mr. Klain’s departure also comes as the White House struggles to contain the fallout after classified documents dating from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president were discovered at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former institute in Washington.


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