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White House chief of staff Ronald Klain has faced a barrage of criticism in recent weeks as President Biden’s poll numbers plummet amid a pileup of setbacks for the administration.
Moderate Democrats have reportedly been calling for Klain to be replaced, complaining that he is “overly deferential” to the more liberal wing of the party, according to a recent Politico article.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain joins a meeting with President Joe Biden, members of his cabinet and immigration advisors in the State Dining Room on March 24, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A recent report from NBC News, which interviewed dozens of administration officials, congressional officials and Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, said most of the criticisms against Klain flow from the idea that “Biden has strayed from his core brand as a pragmatic, empathetic politician who won the Democratic nomination as a moderate willing to compromise.”
The sources who spoke to NBC pin the blame on Klain and singled out his constant Twitter use as a problem. Klain did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.
One of Klain’s retweets caused legal headaches for the administration when he retweeted a post that seemed to praise the Biden administration for pulling off the “ultimate work-around” for a national COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Klain raised eyebrows in October when he seemingly endorsed a tweet described inflation and supply chain issues as “high class problems.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later tried to clarify Klain’s tweet by giving “full context.”
Klain also drew mixed reactions on social media in December when he retweeted a post that called 2021 not “all bad.”
PSAKI DEFENDS WH CHIEF KLAIN’S ‘TONE DEAF INFLATION TWEET’
Last week, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called on Biden to fire Klain for pushing a “guaranteed-to-fail vote” on nuking the filibuster that he argued is a political ploy just to appease progressives.
In this Jan. 19, 2021 file photo, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., speaks on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool File)
“It’s CYA [cover your a–] week in Washington,” Sasse said in a statement provided to Fox News. “The Senate is taking a guaranteed-to-fail vote on blowing up the filibuster so that Chuck Schumer can ward off a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and so that Ron Klain can throw some chum at the Democratic Party’s progressive base.”
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“Ron Klain thinks his own activists are dumb enough to fall for it,” Sasse added. “President Biden ought to fire his chief of staff immediately.”
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche, Adam Shaw, Andrew Mark Miller and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
