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Who is Ron Klain? Joe Biden's White House chief of staff is 'Ebola Czar' who led task force for Barack Obama

Klain has earlier been Biden's chief of staff during the initial years of his vice presidency

While President Donald Trump is yet to concede and has announced taking the legal route to challenge the election results, president-elect Joe Biden seems to be quietly moving ahead with important official tasks. Biden on Wednesday announced the appointment of Ron Klain, his longtime aide, as White House Chief of Staff. In this capacity, Klain will oversee the Executive Office of the President and serve as a senior advisor.

As stated by CNN, Klain praised Biden in his own statement and referred to his new role as "the honor of a lifetime." He said, "I look forward to helping him and the Vice President-elect assemble a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to heal the divides in our country."Klain also tweeted: "I’ve seen so many kind wishes tonight on this website. Thank you - and I’m sorry I can’t reply to each of you. I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH."

The president-elect is also looking at selecting the rest of his senior members of West Wing advisers, CNN has learned. Some announcements are also possible before the end of the week, followed by others in weeks to come. Klain has been Biden's chief of staff during the initial years of his vice presidency and has been touted as the top prospect for the critical job. He has also served as the White House Ebola response coordinator in 2014 and has taken considerable interest in the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which is a top priority for the incoming Biden administration, reports CNN.

However, Biden is not expected to make any Cabinet nominee announcements until after Thanksgiving. Advisers added that "early December" is the target date. The initial announcements can be expected to be for those with health, economic and defense portfolios, officials said, with other Cabinet members possibly to be announced in early January, when the outcome of the Georgia Senate runoffs are known and it's clear whether Republicans have maintained control of the Senate.

In a new report, The Washington Post confirmed that Klain has been chosen. The report by them includes a statement from Biden, which reads, “Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014.” He also added, “His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again.”

Meet Ron Klain

According to Yahoo News, Klain has been one of Biden’s closest advisers and is said to know his strengths and weaknesses, almost more than anyone. Before working for Biden, he had helped former President Bill Clinton guide through his judicial nominations and later became vice president Al Gore’s chief of staff. He also helped lead the Gore campaign’s efforts in the 2000 Florida recount – the battle, which led to George W. Bush winning the presidency by a narrow margin. This was turned into an HBO movie that starred Kevin Spacey as Klain.

He also was part of Hillary Clinton’s debate prep back in 2016, and again took over that role prior to Biden and Trump’s first debate. He is known to serve as the ‘Ebola czar’ for the Obama administration and had helped guide the federal response to containing the outbreak of that virus in 2014 and 2015. And in March 2020, he appeared in an ad for Biden criticizing the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Harvard Law School website, Klain is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and won the Sears Prize for the highest grade average in 1985. He was a summa cum laude graduate of Georgetown University, where he has served since 2011 as an Adjunct Professor. He is married to Monica Medina, who was previously the Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They have three children.

Twitter users also reacted to his possible appointment for the job. One user said, “@RonaldKlain Congrats, Ron Klain! So nice to know the country will have a sane, measured steward of the Oval Office for the first time in four years. Very happy U.S. citizens have some normalcy for a change.”  Another expressed, “Ron Klain as Biden's Chief of Staff? Competence, experience, integrity... I'm feeling better already.” A user opined, “Ron Klain is a great choice for Chief of Staff.  And Announcing now is smart since it will create organization and structure sooner in a transition.  Also, he knows both POTUS-elect and how to get things done in DC incredibly deeply.” One tweeted, “I love Ron Klain.  Every appointment that is made is going to be a home run.  So many great people to choose from.”

These remarks were made by the internet and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.