Who is Ron Klain, Joe Biden's future chief of staff at the White House?
The democrat lawyer with rich political experience is the first member of the president-elect's next administration to be appointed.
While the transition between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is still at a standstill, the American billionaire still refusing to acknowledge his defeat, the President-elect of the United States is refining his future administration. Joe Biden has just appointed Ron Klain as Chief of Staff at the White House. This is the first official nomination of the winner of the presidential election.
"Ron Klain's long and diverse experience and ability to work with people from all political backgrounds is precisely what I need for a White House chief of staff as we face this moment. crisis and bring our country together again, ”said Joe Biden. "Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years we have worked together," added former vice president Barack Obama.
An experienced democrat
Ron Klain is known to be a seasoned Democrat, whose experiences have alternated between private and public. Joe Biden's relationship with his chief of staff began in the 1980s. Ron Klain had just graduated from Harvard law school when he began working for Joe Biden, then US senator. State of Delaware, details the New York Times. The lawyer, now 59, also worked with Joe Biden when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He then served as Vice President Al Gore's chief of staff, before becoming Biden's chief of staff when he was vice president, starting in 2009.
Within the Democratic Party, he has built a solid reputation as an expert in political debate. He has notably advised and coached candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency of the United States over the past ten years, the New York Times recalls. But to his great regret, presidents already in office, like Barack Obama, refused to prepare. A note full of advice and rules that Ron Klain had prepared for his clients has become among Democrats the document to go before a debate. Rule number 10? "The punches are good, the backlashes are better."
Expected on the coronavirus
Ron Klain's choice is not insignificant as the United States is going through a devastating third epidemic wave. The country has recorded more than 200,000 daily infections this week. The new chief of staff of Joe Biden indeed coordinated under Obama the response of the White House to the Ebola crisis in 2014. Ron Klain had no experience in the medical field. In 2009, he played a major role in the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a law supposed to stimulate the economy after the subprime crisis, notes Bloomberg.
According to Politico, Biden's relationship with Klain took a turn for the worse in 2016, when the latter helped Hillary Clinton's election campaign. Steve Ricchetti, one of Biden's close advisers, is said to have arranged a lunch between the two men to bury the hatchet. Since then, Ron Klain has continued to advise Joe Biden until his nomination as the Democratic Party candidate.
A choice hailed by the Democrats
Ron Klain said it was "the honor of a lifetime" to be appointed to this post. "I look forward to helping him and the Vice President-Elect bring together a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, to embark on their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to bridge the divisions in our country, ”he added.
