Ron Klain | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| 30thWhite House Chief of Staff | |
| In office January 20, 2021 – February 7, 2023 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Deputy | Jen O'Malley Dillon Bruce Reed |
| Preceded by | Mark Meadows |
| Succeeded by | Jeff Zients |
| White House Ebola Response Coordinator | |
| In office October 22, 2014 – February 15, 2015 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Chief of Staff to the Vice President | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 14, 2011 | |
| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | David Addington |
| Succeeded by | Bruce Reed |
| In office November 1, 1995 – August 3, 1999 | |
| Vice President | Al Gore |
| Preceded by | Jack Quinn |
| Succeeded by | Charles Burson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ronald Alan Klain (1961-08-08)August 8, 1961 (age 64) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Monica Medina |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Georgetown University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Ronald Alan Klain (born August 8, 1961)[1] is an American attorney, political consultant, and former lobbyist who served asWhite House Chief of Staff under PresidentJoe Biden from 2021 to 2023.
ADemocrat, Klain previously served aschief of staff to two vice presidents:Al Gore from 1995 to 1999 and Biden from 2009 to 2011. He was also appointed by PresidentBarack Obama asWhite House Ebola Response Coordinator after the appearance ofEbola virus cases in the United States, serving from 2014 to 2015.[2]
Throughout 2020 he worked as asenior advisor toBiden's presidential campaign.[3][4] Following his victory, Biden announced on November 12 that Klain would serve as White House chief of staff.[5][6] During his tenure as chief of staff, Klain was often characterized as a key ally of theprogressive wing of the Democratic Party within the White House.[7][8][9]
In January 2023, Klain announced his plans to step down as chief of staff in the weeks after Biden'sState of the Union address in February.[10][11] He was succeeded in the role byJeff Zients on February 7.[11]
Ronald Alan Klain was born inIndianapolis, Indiana to Stanley Klain, a building contractor, and Sarann Warner (née Horwitz), a travel agent.[12][13][14][15] Klain is Jewish.[16][17] He graduated fromNorth Central High School in 1979 and was on the school'sBrain Game team which finished as season runner-up. A first-generation college graduate, he received hisBachelor of Arts degree,summa cum laude, fromGeorgetown University in 1983.[18] In 1987, he received hisJuris Doctor degree,magna cum laude, fromHarvard Law School, where he was an editor of theHarvard Law Review.[19]
From 1983 to 1984, Klain served as legislative director forU.S. representativeEd Markey (D–MA).[20] Klain was alaw clerk forSupreme Court justiceByron White during the 1987 and 1988 terms.[21] From 1989 to 1992, he was chief counsel to theU.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary,[22] overseeing the legal staff's work on matters of constitutional law, criminal law, antitrust law, and Supreme Court nominations, including the 1991Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination. In 1995, SenatorTom Daschle appointed him the staff director of the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee.[19]
Klain joined the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992 and was involved in both ofBill Clinton's presidential campaigns.[22] He oversaw Clinton's judicial nominations. In the White House, Klain was Associate Counsel to the President, directing judicial selection efforts and leading the team that won confirmation ofSupreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg.[22] In 1994, he became chief of staff and counselor to Attorney GeneralJanet Reno and in 1995, chief of staff toAl Gore.[23]
Klain continued to serve as Gore's chief of staff following the official launch of Gore's presidential campaign on June 16, 1999.[24] On August 2, 1999, Klain resigned from the role to join the Washington, D.C., office ofO'Melveny & Myers, a law firm.[25][26] As general counsel of Gore's Recount Committee, Klain oversaw the November–December2000 recount of votes in Florida, which ended when the Supreme Court put an end to the counting andGeorge W. Bush was named the winner.[2]
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During the early primaries of the 2004 presidential campaign, Klain worked as an adviser toWesley Clark during Clark's run for president. AfterJohn Kerry won the Democratic nomination, Klain became heavily involved behind the scenes in his campaign.[27] Klain was registered as alobbyist forFannie Mae until 2005.[28]
Klain served as an informal adviser toEvan Bayh who is from Klain's home state of Indiana. In 2005, Klain left his partnership atO'Melveny & Myers to become executive vice president and general counsel ofRevolution LLC, a technologyventure capital firm launched byAOL co-founderSteve Case.[2] At the time of his October 2014 appointment as Ebola response coordinator, he was general counsel at Revolution LLC and President of Case Holdings.[29]
Klain was one of the people who assistedBarack Obama in his preparation for the2008 United States presidential debates.[30] On November 12, 2008,Roll Call announced that Klain had been chosen to serve aschief of staff to Vice PresidentJoe Biden, the same role he served for Gore.[31][32][33]
Klain had worked with Biden, having served as counsel to theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary while Biden chaired the committee and assisted Biden's speechwriting team during the1988 presidential campaign.[34]
In May 2010, amid concerns about whether the now-defunct solar-panel companySolyndra was viable, Klain gave the go-ahead for an Obama visit to the factory, and stated in an email to White House advisorValerie Jarrett that "the reality is that if POTUS visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few will be belly-up by election day 2012."[35]
Klain was mentioned as a possible replacement for White House chief of staffRahm Emanuel,[36] but opted to leave the White House in January 2011 and return to Case Holdings, where he oversaw Revolution LLC and assisted Steve Case and his wife,Jean Case, in administering theCase Foundation.[37]
On October 17, 2014, Klain was appointed the "Ebola response coordinator" sometimes referred to as Ebola "czar."[38][39][40] Although Klain, according toJulie Hirschfeld Davis writing inThe New York Times, had "no record or expertise in Ebola specifically or public health in general,"[39] the choice was praised byEzra Klein for his bureaucratic experience with coordinating agencies.[41][42] His term as Ebola response coordinator ended in February 2015.
After his term as Ebola czar, Klain worked as an external advisor to theSkoll Foundation Global Threats Fund.[43] He also served as chairman, public advocate and private advisor for Higher Grounds Labs, which describes itself as supporting "start-ups building products that help progressives win."[44]
In 2015, Klain joinedHillary Clinton's ultimately unsuccessfulpresidential campaign.[45] He helped Clinton prepare for theDemocratic primary debates,[46] as well as thepresidential debates against Republican nomineeDonald Trump.[47] After Trump's election, he continued to work at Revolution LLC, and repeatedly criticized the administration in op-eds and television appearances.[45]
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During the 2020 Biden campaign, Klain served as an advisor on theCOVID-19 pandemic.[48] In April 2020 he toldWired: "If we’re going to make Covid-19 go away, we’re going to need a very high vaccination rate. The number one public health challenge of 2021 is going to be getting people to take the vaccine."[48] He helped Biden prepare for thepresidential debates against Trump.[49][50] On November 11, 2020, it was announced that President-elect Joe Biden had selected Klain to beWhite House Chief of Staff.[51][52]
Klain has received praise for his organizational abilities and for his responsiveness while serving as President Biden's chief of staff, while drawing criticism for being overly concerned with élite opinion, as reflected by his active Twitter presence, and for being too aligned with his party's left bloc. During his first year in his position, Klain used Twitter, saying "I find being on Twitter useful as an early-warning system of things that, to be honest, reporters are talking about." He also uses the platform to take aim at critics and to push pro-Biden messages.[53]
In October 2022, theOffice of Special Counsel found that Klain had violated theHatch Act and was warned not to do so again.[54]
Klain was seen as a highly impactful chief of staff who achieved major legislative victories such as passing theAmerican Rescue Plan Act and theInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Klain resigned on a high note for the Biden Administration following an unexpectedly strong showing in the2022 midterm elections and signs of easing inflation.[55]
On January 21, 2023, it was reported that Klain would resign as chief of staff in the period following the2023 State of the Union Address on February 7.[56] On February 1, 2023, the White House held a goodbye transition event for Klain.[57][58] Klain returned to legal services firm, O'Melveny & Myers LLP as a partner, on April 18, 2023, to lead its Strategic Counseling and Crisis Management Practice.[59]
On November 20, 2023,Airbnb announced that Klain would join the company as chief legal officer on January 1, 2024.[60]
During the run-up to the2024 presidential election, Klain publicly warned the Biden re-election campaign to refocus on immediate economic problems affecting American voters such as inflation rather than long-term projects such as infrastructure investments.[61]
Klain is married toMonica Medina, an attorney, consultant, and co-founder of Our Daily Planet, an environmental news platform.[62] They were college sweethearts at Georgetown and in February 2019 he tweeted that they were celebrating their 40th Valentine's Day together.[63] They have three adult children, Hannah, Michael and Daniel.[64][13]
In financial disclosures, Klain reported owning assets worth $4.4–12.2 million in 2021 compared to $1.4–3.5 million in 2009. He received a salary of almost $2 million in 2020 from the venture capital firmRevolution LLC, where he served as general counsel and executive vice president.[65][66] In 2009, he reported earning a salary of $1 million.[65]
Klain lives inChevy Chase, Maryland, with neighbors that includeU. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and JusticeBrett Kavanaugh. He has referred to his large home as “the House That O’Melveny Built,” after his lucrative time at the international law firm O’Melveny & Myers.[67]
Klain was portrayed byKevin Spacey in the HBO filmRecount, which depicted the tumult of the2000 presidential election.[32] In 2021, he was included in theTime 100,Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[68] In 2023, Klain was portrayed by Jon Levine in season four ofFor All Mankind, which takes place in an alternate timeline in which Al Gore wins the 2000 election and Klain becomes the White House liaison toNASA.[69]
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief of Staff to the Vice President 1995–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of Staff to the Vice President 2009–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | White House Chief of Staff 2021–2023 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| Other | |
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