US election 2020: Who has Biden announced as his White House top staff?
President-elect Joe Biden has already selected some of his team with former Obama and Clinton advisors and aides given prominent roles in his more representative administrative.
Despite the incumbent’s protestations President-elect Joe Biden has already made a number of key decisions that will help shape his presidency when he takes office in January. Last week he named his covid-19 task force, a group focused on aiding Biden’s response to the pandemic.
He has also announced that Ron Klain will be his White House chief of staff, an experienced hand who has previously served in that role to Vice President Al Gore and to Biden during his spell as Vice President to Barack Obama. Biden is clearly looking to recruit established operators to his team and he has now made public a list of his White House senior staff for the upcoming administration, many of whom had worked closely with the President-elect in the past.
Who are Joe Biden’s senior White House staff?
Jen O’Malley Dillion – Biden’s campaign manager has been rewarded for her work during the campaign with the role of deputy chief of staff. The 44-year-old was the first woman to lead a successful Democratic presidential campaign and will serve alongside Klain.
Mike Donilon – The chief strategist for Biden’s winning campaign will be a senior advisor to President Biden. Donilon was heavily involved in deciding the tone of the Democrats’ 2020 campaign, writing speeches for Biden and coming up with the rallying cry that this was a "battle for the soul of the nation.”
Steve Richetti – Another to have served in both Obama and Bill Clinton’s administrations is Richetti, who was also Biden’s campaign chairman. In Biden’s White House he will serve as counsel to the president.
Cedric Richmond – Trump’s White House team was criticised as the ‘whitest’ since that of Ronald Reagan and, in contrast to his predecessor, Biden’s senior staff includes several people of colour. Richmond was formerly the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and has resigned from his seat in the House to take up the position of director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Dana Remus – Biden’s team also gives greater representation in the highest office in the land for women, with Remus given the title of counsel to the president. Another to have worked under President Obama, she was general counsel to the Obama Foundation and the Obamas' personal office.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez – The new director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, is also a veteran of the Obama administration. Under Obama she served as a special assistant to the President and senior deputy director of public engagement.
Annie Tomasini – Another to have been retained from Biden’s successful campaign team is Tomasini, formerly his traveling chief of staff who will become director of Oval Office Operation under his presidency.
Who else has been appointed to the White House?
As well as the President’s staff there have also been additions made for First Lady Jill Biden’s team. She has said that she intends to continue her day job as an English language professor but she will also take up some responsibilities within the White House.
The first of her staffers announced are Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon and Anthony Bernal. Pantaleon is a former deputy assistant secretary of state and will become Jill Biden’s chief of staff. Bernal was heavily involved in the 2020 campaign and CNN report that he was one of only two staffers to regularly meet with the Biden’s throughout the coronavirus pandemic. He will take up the role of senior adviser to the First Lady.