Departing White House chief of staff Ron Klain confirmed President Joe Biden‘s 2024 reelection campaign as he tearfully said goodbye to White House staff in speech on Wednesday evening. ‘And as I did in 1988, in 2008, in 2020, I look forward to being on your side when you run for president in 2024,’ Klain said during the East Room ceremony. The ceremony marked the replacement of Klain by incoming White House chief of staff Jeff Zients. Klain had several emotional moments during the speech and it is still unclear what role he will play in Biden’s unannounced election campaign. He has worked with Biden for decades as a key political advisor.
“I will try to keep this brief, but I cannot promise there will not be some tears,’ Klain said, before almost immediately choking up. ‘This is the best job I’ve ever had. And even though it’s also the hardest job I’ve ever had – I will miss this job, our work, this mission and most of all this team every single day.”
“It is especially not bad, for a president and a team that was written off for dead in the winter of 2019 and for dead again in the winter of 2020 and for dead again in the winter of 2021 and for dead again the first week of November 2022,” he said.
‘The president likes to say that it’s never a good bet to bet against the American people and he is right,’ Klain continued. ‘But what I want to say today is it is never a good bet to bet against Joe Biden and this team, never, ever a good bet,’ Klain added.
Klain started working for Biden 36 years ago and his belief that Biden intends to run in 2024 backup past comments from the president. In December 2021, Biden told ABC News, “If I’m in the health I’m in now, if I’m in good health, then in fact, I would run again.”
