U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (right) with Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain (left) at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex in Washington, U.S. November 13, 2014.
Larry Downing | Reuters
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is preparing to step down in the next few weeks, according to a report from The New York Times.
Klain, a longtime adviser to President Joe Biden, has supported Biden through his 2020 campaign and has helped guide his administration since he was elected to office. After the midterm elections in November and two action-packed years in the White House, Klain told colleagues he was ready for something different, the report said.
A search for Klain’s replacement is said to be underway, but it’s unclear if a successor has been chosen or when a decision will be announced.
Klain previously served as Biden’s chief of staff during former President Barack Obama’s first term, and he has worked with Biden since he ran for president in 1987. Biden selected Klain as his chief of staff in November 2020and since then, he has contributed to various administration successes and failures — Klain helped oversee Covid-19 relief and vaccine distribution, the bipartisan infrastructure program, and historic investments in climate change while battling high inflation and slowing economic growth.
Klain’s resignation would be an important departure in an administration that has so far avoided many changes. As reported by the Times, all of Biden’s statutory cabinet members have stayed, and Klain boasts that he has been in office longer than any other first Democratic president’s chief of staff in more than 50 years. year.
By contrast, former President Donald Trump is his third chief of staff, his third national security adviser, and has lost 15 of his original cabinet secretary appointees at this point in his tenure. his presidency.
Klain has been open about his intention to eventually leave his position and that he will stay long enough to help the new chief of staff transition and settle into life, according to the Times.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
