Biden Starts Doling Out White House Jobs To Longtime Democratic Operatives, Campaign Staff

While President Trump challenges the results of the 2020 election, Joe Biden is doling out White House jobs to longtime advisers, Democratic operatives and campaign staff.

As we noted last week, Biden has already picked longtime adviser and former Obama Ebola ‘Czar’ Ron Klain – who was Biden’s Chief of Staff from 2009-2011 after working on the Clinton-Gore campaign in 2002 and becoming Gore’s Chief of Staff from 1995-1999.

According to The Hill, Klain’s deputy will be Biden campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, who took over the primary campaign in mid-March after Biden was the likely nominee.

Another Biden adviser will be Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), who is expected to resign from Congress this on Tuesday, and will serve ‘in a wide-ranging role’ as Biden’s senior adviser and the director of the White House office of Public Engagement. The Hill reports that Richmond – a Biden campaign co-chair, will ‘assume a senior role similar to that of Valerie Jarrett in the Obama administration.’

“I really believe that he played a very significant role in that campaign. And he is very gifted, very energetic. And he’s just at that transitional age,” said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) when asked about Richmond, who formerly chaired the Congressional Black Caucus.

Campaign chairman and longtime Hill staffer Steve Ricchetti – a veteran of Bill Clinton’s administration, will serve as counselor to the president, while Biden campaign chief strategist Mike Donilon will act as another senior adviser. The Biden campaign’s general counsel, Dana Remus, will serve as Biden’s lawyer.

“I am proud to announce additional members of my senior team who will help us build back better than before,” Biden said recently. “America faces great challenges, and they bring diverse perspectives and a shared commitment to tackling these challenges and emerging on the other side a stronger, more united nation.”

Also on Biden’s staff will be deputy campaign manager Julie Rodriguez, who will serve as the director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House. Rodriguez also served on Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, Jill Biden’s staff is also being selected as we speak.

Biden has also filled several top positions in First Lady Jill Biden’s office and other spots throughout the White House. 

Lawyer Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon, a former ambassador in the Obama-Biden administration, will be Jill Biden’s chief of staff and deputy campaign manager Anthony Bernal will be senior adviser. Bernal worked for Jill Biden when she was Second Lady in the Obama-Biden administration. –The Hill

“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris have an ambitious and urgent agenda for action,” said Klain. “The team we have already started to assemble will enable us to meet the challenges facing our country on day one.”