Joe Biden names Ron Klain as White House chief of staff

Mr Klain has long professional relationship with president-elect

Joe Biden has chosen veteran Democratic operative Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff.

It had been rumoured for months that Mr Klain, a lawyer who also advised Barack Obama, would get the top job.

Mr Klain, 59, served as Mr Obama’s “Ebola tsar” and has been a fierce critic of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

He worked as a top aide to Mr Biden when he was still a senator for Delaware, and ran his office when he first became vice president.

“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,” Mr Biden said in a statement to the Washington Post.

“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.”

Mr Klain reportedly fell out with Mr Biden’s team after he offered to support Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run for the White House.

But he now has the most important unelected job in government that does not require Senate confirmation.

“This town is brimming with smart people and high school valedictorians,” Jared Bernstein, an economic adviser to Mr Biden when he was vice president, told the Washington Post.

“Ron brings something extra to the table, which is an ability to quickly process complex, conflicting streams of information and zero in on the optimal solution."

Officials for Mr Biden told CNN that Mr Klain had accepted the position and a formal announcement would come on Thursday.

Mr Klain, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1987, has become a leading debate preparation expert for Democratic presidential candidates going back to Bill Clinton.