U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (R) is joined by Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain (L) in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on 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 coming weeks, according to a report from The New York Times.
Klain, a longtime adviser to President Joe Biden, 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 an action-packed two years in the White House, Klain has told colleagues that he is ready for something different, the report said.
A search for Klain’s replacement is reportedly underway, but it is not clear if a successor has already been chosen or when the decision will be announced.
Klain previously acted as Biden’s chief of staff during former President Barack Obama’s first term, and he’s worked with Biden since he ran for president back in 1987. Biden selected Klain as his chief of staff in November 2020, and he has been a part of the administration’s various successes and failures ever since — Klain helped oversee the Covid-19 relief plan and vaccine distribution, the bipartisan infrastructure program and historic investments in climate change while battling high levels of inflation and slowing economic growth.
Klain’s resignation would be a significant departure in an administration that has so far avoided many turnovers. All of Biden’s statutory cabinet members have stayed on, and Klain is proud he has lasted longer than any other Democratic president’s first chief of staff in more than 50 years, according to the Times report.
Former President Donald Trump, in contrast, was on his third chief of staff, his third national security advisor and had lost 15 of his initial cabinet secretary appointees by this point in his presidency.
Klain has been open about his intentions to eventually leave his post, and he will stay long enough to help the new chief of staff transition and settle in, according to the Times.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
