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Welcome to POLITICOs West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice.

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Chief of staff RON KLAIN hasnt said hes planning to leave the White House any time soon but current and former Biden administration officials are already openly speculating about his successor.

In conversations with over a dozen such officials over the past few months, one name is always at the top of the list: JEFF ZIENTS, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator. The only debate is if hes the frontrunner to be the next chief of staff or just a frontrunner.

Klains recent interview with the Washington Post only fueled speculation about his departure after he pointed out that past chiefs of staff have typically left before the two-year mark. It is a grinding job, theres no question about it, he told the Post. It takes a lot of stamina to do it. So well see how long it lasts.

As scrutiny has mounted over the Biden administrations sluggish response to Omicron, several officials including Klain, CDC Director ROCHELLE WALENSKY, and Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA have taken heat for the missteps.

But Zients, who runs the Covid team and makes nearly every major decision about the direction of the pandemic response, has emerged largely unscathed. He has yet to be called to testify before Congress about the Covid response. And unlike Walensky and Dr. ANTHONY FAUCI, he has made only a handful of television appearances. He doesnt have a public Twitter account either, mirroring the approach of many in Bidens inner circle. The result: he is, effectively, invisible to much of the public even as he wields immense power over Bidens top priority.

Everything that gets to the president gets filtered through Zients, one person familiar with the matter said of the Covid response decision-making process. Asked in a Senate hearing last month who is the head coach of the Covid-19 response, Fauci pointed to Zients.

Despite the heat the administration has recently taken on Covid, even from former health policy transition advisers, Zients still enjoys a deep well of support in the West Wing.

I've worked with a lot of people in Washington over the years and Jeff really stands out as a real star, Fauci told West Wing Playbook.

A senior White House official, who spoke about internal dynamics on condition of anonymity, told us, I always joke that his brain is like an Excel spreadsheet it can store and crunch data like few others.

Other administration officials note that Zients puts in the effort to win over staff. One former staffer noted Zients had the team over to his house for dinner and drinks as a thank you one night back when it was still warm enough to be outside and safe in September or October. Several current and former White House officials said Zients will bring three boxes of bagels to the building every Wednesday from the D.C. shop Call Your Mother, which he used to co-own.

Zients appeal, at least to some, is that he is more focused on management than ideology. During the 2020 presidential transition, even then-White House adviser and Trump son-in-law JARED KUSHNER vouched for Zients to fellow Trump officials. A spokesperson for Kushner did not respond.

A Biden transition official said Zients is the king of super quick calls: Hey. Three things, boom, boom, boom. The official also said that a lot of people claim to be up at 5 a.m. but he really is and emailing by 5:15.

But that business-oriented, hyper-efficient mentality has also earned him detractors in the left-wing of the party. Fire Jeff Zients, ran a headline in The American Prospect last month. Some Trump administration officials, meanwhile, argue that the Biden Covid team has gotten a pass from the media on their stumbles.

Since joining Obamas budget office in 2009, Zients management skills and reputation for delivering results despite bureaucratic hurdles have catapulted him from one high-level role to another first at OMB, where he did a couple stints as acting director, then running the National Economic Council, and most famously helping fix healthcare.gov after its disastrous launch.

His ascension in Biden World has been swift compared to the aides who have been with the president for decades. He became a founding board member of the Biden Cancer Initiative in 2017 and then tried to help sort out the Biden primary campaigns finances in the winter of 2019 to 2020, when the campaign was on the ropes. From there, Zients took the lead on Bidens transition team before being tasked with leading the critical Covid response.

The senior administration roles surprised even Zients old colleagues, who wondered how and when Zients had managed to grow so close to the president-elect, two people familiar with the matter said.

Some critics have argued the Covid team ought to be led by someone with more experience in public health, but Fauci told West Wing Playbook he thinks that criticism is misguided. I mean, weve got enough public health people that are on the team, he said. I think Jeffs the perfect person for the job. And he's doing a terrific job. I mean, I don't think youll hear even the slightest criticism from anybody who actually works with him.

But since we live in the wonderful town of Washington, D.C., somebody's always got something bad to say about somebody.

TEXT US Did we miss something about Zients or the Covid response? Send us an email or text and we will try to include your thoughts in the next days edition. Can be anonymous, on background, etc. Email us at [emailprotected] or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098 or Max at 7143455427.

Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you NATALIE QUILLIAN, Zients deputy on the White House Covid team? (Email/text us! Please?)

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Blackstone and its portfolio companies hire over 100,000 veterans, veteran spouses and caregivers. This doubles a commitment we made in 2013 after First Ladies Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden urged companies to expand employment opportunities for veterans and their families. Blackstone's Veterans Hiring Initiative exemplifies how partnership between the public and private sectors can help overcome challenges like veteran unemployment while bringing in talent whose perspectives make our businesses stronger.

From the University of Virginia's Miller Center

Which president was the first to win the White House while his party failed to win the House or Senate?

(Answer at the bottom.)

ROGAN WARS The White House waded into the escalating feud between Spotify and a number of prominent musicians over podcast host JOE ROGAN, who has expressed skepticism about the Covid-19 vaccine and has hosted other vaccine skeptics on his show.

Asked by West Wing Playbook during the White House press briefing on Tuesday about Spotifys recent decision to add warning labels to Covid-19-related podcast content, press secretary JEN PSAKI said the move is a positive step, but the White House wants every platform to continue doing more to call out mis-and-disinformation while also uplifting accurate information.

ABOUT YESTERDAYS NEWSLETTER We flubbed a bit of background in yesterdays newsletter about the New York Times lawsuit against the State Department for FOIAs related to Hunter Biden. We said Times reporter KEN VOGEL wrote about the presidents son for the Times and at POLITICO, where he was previously a reporter. Vogel actually reported for POLITICO on Ukraines behind-the-scenes influence campaign during the 2016 election, but not about Hunter.

Speaking of Vogel, a judge has been appointed for the New York Times case. The Times drew Judge PAUL OETKEN, an Obama-tapped U.S. District Court judge. Oetken is also the judge overseeing the federal probe into whether former New York Mayor RUDY GIULIANI attempted to influence U.S. government policy on the behalf of Ukrainian officials.

DOUG JONES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: After losing out to MERRICK GARLAND for the attorney general post, DOUG JONES is coming back to government to guide Bidens Supreme Court nominee through the confirmation process, NYTs KATIE ROGERS first reported. Jones, the former senator from Alabama, is an original Biden guy, having supported him for president in 1988 and 2008. Biden returned the favor when Jones ran for Senate in 2017, encouraging Jones to run and hitting the campaign trail for the then-candidate.

During Tuesdays press briefing, Psaki noted that the White House plans to have multiple people on the team that will sherpa Bidens nominee during the Senate confirmation process.

Our story on Jones new role from JOSEPH GEDEONand MYAH WARD.

FIRST DAY JITTERS CATHY RUSSELL, the former head of the presidential personnel office and a Biden loyalist, started her new job today as UNICEFs executive director, POLITICOs CARMEN PAUN told us.

I LIKE HIM, BUT Republican Sen. ROY BLUNT today threw cold water on Bidens nominee for the FDA, ROBERT CALIFF, who has been struggling with confirmation. I like him, Blunt told POLITICOs ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and DAVID LIM. But I havent made a final decision on that yet and dont intend to until the administration appears to be truly ready to push his name forward.

COTTON, THE FABRIC OF RESISTANCE: Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) vowed today to block any Justice Department nominees from moving quickly through the Senate unless the department agrees to represent or pay legal fees for several deputy U.S. Marshals who were attacked for months by the violent left-wing mob in Portland, he wrote in a tweet, referring to the protests back in 2020.

FILLING UP THE COURTS: The Senate Tuesday confirmed two district judges for the Northern District of Ohio BRIDGET BRENNAN, 60-36, and CHARLES FLEMING, 56-42.

KING MANCHIN Responding to reporters questions about Bidens proposed Build Back Better bill, Sen. JOE MANCHIN did not mince words. What Build Back Better bill? There is no I mean, I dont know what yall are talking about. Asked if he is engaged in talks on the bill, Manchin snapped: No, no, no, no. Its dead. He added later: If we're talking about the whole big package, thats gone.

A message from Blackstone:

US begins quietly flying Venezuelan migrants to Colombia under controversial border policy (CNNs Priscilla Alvarez)

US and allies close to reviving nuclear deal with Iran, officials say (NYTs David E. Sanger, Lara Jakes and Farnaz Fassihi)

Does Bidens presidency hang on the crisis with Russia? (New Yorkers Robin Wright)

FBI director CHRIS WRAY sits down with PETE WILLIAMS on NBC Nightly News at 6:30 pm ET.

Biden received the Presidents Daily Brief in the morning.

Later, he met with Sens. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) and CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa) in the Oval Office to discuss the Supreme Court opening, following the announcement of Justice STEPHEN BREYERs retirement.

With the president.

When JOHN McCARTHY, who works for top Biden aide STEVE RICCHETTI, was a teen, he wasn't exactly doing things a typical teenager would do. His mom, PATTI McCARTHY, remembers a time when she heard him making phone calls on behalf of HILLARY CLINTON's campaign.

He was probably about 15 years old, and I hear him on the phone in our computer room, and whats he saying? she told the Asbury Park Press in November 2020. Hes making calls for Hillary Clinton to people around the country.

Not your typical teenage hobby, but we will allow it.

In 1956, DWIGHT EISENHOWER won 58 percent of the popular vote and 41 states, yet Republicans failed to win the House or Senate. Eisenhower's popularity, particularly on national security issues, allowed him to win vast swaths of the electorate that couldn't be replicated by his party.

For information on Eisenhower and the rest of the presidents, visit millercenter.org.

A CALL OUT Have a better trivia question? Send us your hardest trivia question on the presidents and we may feature it on Wednesdays.

Edited by Emily Cadei

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