Biden Turns to Washington Insider as Chief of Staff

Assuming that he survives the pending legal challenges in at least three states and becomes the 46th president, Joe Biden will have as his right-hand man a seasoned veteran of official Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday night, Biden named Washington attorney Ron Klain, 59, as White House chief of staff. 

Along with serving as Biden's chief of staff while he was vice president, Klain held the same position under Vice President Al Gore during President Bill Clinton's administration. 

His relationship with Biden is particularly close. When then-Delaware Sen. Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in the early 1990s, Klain was the committee's chief counsel and a major figure in the tumultuous hearings over Justice Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court.

"Ron Klain is ideally suited to serve as Biden's chief of staff," Larry Haas, who was Gore's director of communications while vice president, told Newsmax. "He's very close to Biden, his mind is razor sharp, and he is tough as nails. I expect him to serve in the spirit of his most effective predecessors, such as Ronald Reagan's James Baker and Barack Obama's Rahm Emanuel, presiding over a disciplined White House and an orderly administration."

Baker and Leon Panetta, who was Clinton's highly regarded chief of staff, are considered the "gold standard" among holders of the top job in the White House.

Christopher Whipple, author of the much-acclaimed "The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency," had a slightly different take on Klain.

"Ron Klain is a perfect choice as chief of staff on paper," Whipple told us, "but he will face a much more daunting challenge than any of his predecessors: a lethal pandemic, an economy in crisis, widespread racial injustice, and a country bitterly divided with a hostile Senate. By comparison, Jim Baker's and Leon Panetta's eras look like 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.'"

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.