Jeff Zients will reportedly turn into Biden’s subsequent chief of employees
White House Covid-19 Response Czar Jeff Zients speaks during a White House news briefing where they discussed a pause in the issuance of Johnson & Johnson Janssen’s Covid-19 vaccine April 13, 2021 in Washington, DC languages.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
According to media reports on Sunday, Jeff Zients will serve as President Joe Biden’s next chief of staff.
Zients, who helped steer the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response and run its ambitious immunization campaign, briefly left the White House in April before returning in the fall to help current Chief of Staff Ron Klain prepare for the move to to help the administration following the midterm elections.
Klain has been open about his intention to leave his post at some point and he is reportedly preparing to step down in the coming weeks, according to a Saturday report by The New York Times.
Klain, a longtime advisor to President Joe Biden, supported Biden during his 2020 campaign and has helped lead the Biden administration since his election to office. After November’s midterm elections and two busy years in the White House, Klain has told colleagues he’s ready for something else, according to a Washington Post report.
Klain previously served as Biden’s chief of staff during former President Barack Obama’s first term in office, and he has worked with Biden since he ran for president in 1987. Zients, on the other hand, has spent most of his career in the private sector, first making his foray into politics during the Obama administration.
Though Zients has a relatively limited political background compared to Klain, he is a “master implementer” and “inspires deep loyalty” among his peers, the Post reported.
A White House official did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.
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