WEBVTT - Ron Klain 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.640 Perhaps the toughest job in Washington is not being President 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.200 United States. It's actually being Chief of staff to the 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.840 President of the United States. The average chief of staff 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.680 to the President of the United States lasts about eighteen months. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.759 I sat down recently with Ron Klain, the current Chief 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.160 of Staff to the President United States, and asked him 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.000 what this job actually entails and why it's so difficult. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.320 For those who don't know Ron's background, it's quite amazing. 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.680 He's actually served his country for many, many years, and 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.440 among those positions are Chief Council for the Senate Judiciary 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:36.040 Committee under then Chairman Joe Biden, Associate Council for Judicial 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.640 Selection under President Clinton, Chief of Staff and Counselor to 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.280 the Attorney General Janet Reno, Staff director of the Senate 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.120 Democratic Leadership Committee under Leader Tom Dashell, and chief of 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.199 staff to Vice President Al Gore. In addition, uh He 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.440 also served as Assistant to the President and chief of 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.600 staff to Vice President Biden in the Obama administration, and 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.960 returned after serving several years in that position to serve 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.880 as the White House E Bowler Response Coordinator. Think you've 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.920 got the perfect resume for this job, but my question 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:07.880 is you know so much about being chief of staff 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.080 the people, and you know so much about the White House. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.520 Don't you know that being chief of sta after the 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.800 White House President of the United States is a difficult 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.679 job to do, and usually the tenure is about eighteen months. 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:20.679 So when you were offered the job, did you say, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:22.400 I know I'm only gonna be able to do this 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.360 for about eighteen months, or do you say I'm gonna 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.720 make it all four or eight years? Well, David, thanks, 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:32.240 thanks that very generous introduction. I appreciate it. Look, I 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.640 was honored and flattered humbled when President Biden. President Biden 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.120 asked me to come do this. Um, it is a 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.600 ruling job, There's no question about it. I think it's 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.080 easy to understand why the average tenure in the job 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.840 is seventeen eighteen months. Um, you know, I'm here every day, 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.240 working away. I'm honored to be part of this team 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.800 I have. I'm very lucky. I have probably the most 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.720 experienced a group of colleagues who have ever served as 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.040 a senior level in the White House. I have people 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:58.640 who carry a lot of the load every day. That 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.440 makes the job a lot easier than it would be. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.600 We're facing a lot of hard challenges, no question about it. 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.880 Difficult situations on the international front, a lot of challenges 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.280 here at home. But I'm really lucky to be part 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.480 of an A plus team that's tackling these challenges every day. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.600 So let's talk about the job of being chief of 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.520 staff and how the White House works. So the President 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.519 does he get up early in the morning and call 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.840 you at home and say what's going on? Or or 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:24.600 do you you get in? What? What time does he 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.640 get in and what time you meet with the staff 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.640 people and what time you see him in the beginning 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:30.400 and the end of the day. How does that work? 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.160 So I'm usually in the White House every day by 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.200 UH and I talked to the President early in the 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.080 morning by phone from the residents. We have our morning 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.280 staff meetings before the President comes downstairs. We have a 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.360 number of different kinds of alignments of meetings depending on 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.160 the day of the week and whatnot, UM where we 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:50.959 kind of go over what's gonna happen that day, what's 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.360 gonna what the key questions are that need to be 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.640 put to the president, What are the key things we 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.520 need to resolve that day? As a team? As I said, 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.280 this is UH to the White House many times before. UM, 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.280 but I think this is the most team oriented staff 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.800 I've seen. Uh. Usually the President comes downstairs around nine o'clock. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.840 I'm his first meeting the day. Every day, I kind 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.400 of go through where things are and some key priorities, 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.800 get his reaction to the materials he's been reading overnight. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.360 President takes with him upstairs every evening a thick binder 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:28.400 of materials to read, decision memos, UM and briefing memos. Those. 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.440 He usually comes in with questions. I try to come 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.640 in with answers UH, and we have a conversation. Then 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.000 he proceeds to a number of different staff meetings. I 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:39.560 see him a number of times during the day for 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.440 different kinds of meetings they're going on, whether their national 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:46.240 security meetings or domestic policy meetings. And then usually at 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:47.960 the end of the day I come in and kind 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.520 of wrap with him on you know, what are the 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:52.480 key outstanding things, what are the things he's going to 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.640 see in his book that night that he really needs 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.240 to focus on, Uh, what are the big decisions he's 0:03:58.240 --> 0:03:59.960 gonna have to make? And some of the meetings is 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.640 going to have the next day and UH, today UM 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.040 does anybody have the right or the senior staff who 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.160 has walked in privileges? Are you the only one that 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.840 can walk into the Oval office without an announcement or 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.320 are there a couple of people that can do that? Now, 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.120 any of the president's senior advisor of senior policy advisors 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.800 can come in and see him. Obviously, you know it's 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:20.799 he's got to not be in another meeting or whatever. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.880 But but I I we run a White House here 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.120 where a lot of people have access to the President 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:27.680 and a lot of people are able to talk to 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.960 him straight and directly about what they think without having 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.000 to go through me. So Um, the president seems like 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.960 an even tempered person, but you know everybody gets upset 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.480 from time and time. Does he yell and scream or 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.240 he's not a yeller and scream, or how does he 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.120 show his displeasure at something you write a note to 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.159 him or or to you, or how does he show 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.400 say he's not happy? I think one of Joe Biden's 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.880 great strengths as president is that he hasn't who lived 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:58.599 a life filled with incredible triumphs and incredible tragedies. And um, 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.080 people know his by biography, they know his background, Uh. 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.080 They know the successes he's had, they know the grave 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.880 personal setbacks he suffered. And one thing that is true 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:11.599 is there's never a morning I go in there with 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.520 news that's as bad or worse than the news someone 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.120 else has had to deliver to him at other points 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.920 in time in his life. And I think that gives 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.440 him a very even keel. I think when things are 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.120 going well, he doesn't get too hyped up, and when 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.400 when we're having tougher days, he maintains that composure, that demeanor, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.640 And I think that's one of the hallmarks of his temperament. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.920 One of the things he brings to the office, that 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.880 that steadiness, that experience uh and uh in a life 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.520 that has been, as I say, filled with triumph and tragedy, 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.480 and that's seasoned him and prepared him for this moment. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.240 Some people say, he's you know, it's seventy nine years old. 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.679 That's old to be president United States. Do you see 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.640 signs of his age? Is he uh in better shape 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.120 than you are? And in terms of exercising or how 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:59.880 do you deal with the fact that he's, you know, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.480 older than anybody's ever been to be president Nited States? Well, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.760 he's he He's definitely better shape than I am. That's 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.599 for sure. He's very fat. He works out almost every 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.160 day in the morning before he comes down to the 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.640 Oval office. Uh. And I think the American people saw 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.120 for themselves last night the president's stand to give an 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.480 hour long address that was filled with passion and power 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.919 and wisdom and energy. They saw him hold the longest 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.520 press conference in the history of presidents a couple weeks 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.760 ago at the start of the year. To our press conference, 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.800 we took questions from all kinds of reporters. So I 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:38.200 think his fitness, his vigor is beyond question. Uh. People 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.640 see him on the job every day. Uh. And then 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.159 what they see as a person who's fully capable of 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.159 doing the job, fully vigorous and great mental and physical health, uh, 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.960 and taking on the burdens of the office and executing 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:54.440 them well. So today you would say the President enjoying 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.320 the job or does he say, geez, I wish I 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.080 hadn't really done this. Well, I don't know that enjoying 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.640 is the way you describe tackling the responsibilities of being 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:03.760 the president United States, And particularly now where I think 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.719 he has emerged as the leader of the free world, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.160 is the person who's leading this coalitions confronting Vladimir Putin. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.880 But I think he's very glad he ran for president. 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.160 I think he is um, you have been well prepared 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.600 for the challenges he's tackling. I think, more importantly, I 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.880 hear from people all around the country, Democrats and Republicans, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.320 that they're very glad he's the person in the Oval 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.600 office right now, that he's the person with the background, experience, 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:36.520 the judgment to tackle these hard problems. And uh so, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.000 I think there's a lot of confidence in him as 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.800 the person who should be where he is. About intelligence 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.480 for a moment um, Usually, uh the intelligence that comes 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.120 into the c I A UH is not declassified and 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.600 given to reporters in a public way. Clearly, in this process, somebody, 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:56.680 I assume the President United States, thought it was a 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:02.560 good idea to declassify the satellite photos and to declassify 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.320 the information we have about what Putin was sinking or saying. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.200 So was that a difficult decision to come to And 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.000 do you think it worked or didn't work? Yet? David, 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.520 I think it was the right decision given the kind 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.840 of environment we were facing. We knew that President Putin 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:22.880 had a reputation for disinformation. We've certainly seen that all 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.320 around the world, and we knew that his most likely 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.560 approach here would be to create some kind of disinformation campaign, 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.600 a false flag attack, potentially a false provocation out and 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.840 outlies to justify his invasion of Ukraine. As it became 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.960 clear and clear to us that that was what he 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.760 had planned, we thought it was more and more important 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.240 to strip him of that advantage by making clear what 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.000 we knew his plans were and making it clear to 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.440 the world what we thought would happen. And I think 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.640 that decision by the President Biden, in conjunction with our 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.360 NATO allies or other allies that are part of the coalition, 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.280 is shared decision to proceed this way has been one 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.400 of the reasons why there has been such a unified 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:09.000 and uniform ruled reaction to what President Putin has done. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.319 There's no ambiguity about who is the aggressor here. There's 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.800 no belief in any of the false stories about what 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:20.400 quote unquote provoked this invasion. I think that transparency that 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.839 uh sophisticated use of intelligence and a modern information warfare 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.800 context has served the allies very very well. I also 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.760 think it's stripped President Putin of any element of surprise 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.080 in the attack and helped the Ukrainians be ready for 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.480 what what has hit them. So how do you respond 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.840 to the critics that you have? And you have some 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.080 critics sometimes, I'm sure you know who say you should 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:48.160 have sent armaments to the Ukrainians before the invasion, so 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.360 they were better armed than they are now that we're 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.640 now sending them after the invasion, and and that you 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.040 should have imposed the sanctions before the invasion occurred. What 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.800 do you respond? How do you respond to those kind 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.240 of criticisms versa all, we did send armaments to the 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.080 Ukrainians before the invasion. We sent more arms, more military 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.480 assistance to Ukraine in the past twelve months than any 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.440 year uh since. So we did send a variety of 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.240 kinds of military assistance to the Ukrainians. That assistance continues 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.600 to be to come into the country, but we did 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.360 send plenty before this happened. In terms of the sanctions, 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.000 we thought that the best way to make sure we'd 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.920 have the most unified and powerful set of sanctions was 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.520 to make it clear that those sanctions would take effect 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:41.160 when and if President Putin invaded. The results that we've seen. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:46.400 Illustrate that, David, You've seen There's never been a effort 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:50.800 to impose sanctions this stringent on a country as large 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.360 and as complex and as interconnected to the world economy 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.480 as Russia. It's really a kind of astonishing effort that 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.000 you're seeing under way here. And the impact of those 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:05.400 sanctions has been devastating. They're devastating because there's such a 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:09.679 powerful group of countries unified in their application. And I 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.640 think doing it the way we did is what's made 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.440 all that possible. When you impose sanctions, Let's suppose the 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.600 offending party, Let's say Russia says, Okay, we made a mistake, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.200 We're sorry, we're pulling back. Did the sanctions go away 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.360 or are their penalties that are subsequent to the withdrawal? 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.880 Other words, are there ongoing penalties or they're in effect 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.360 reparations for having done these bad things? Or the sanction 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.440 just go away? Or is that not decided yet? Hasn't 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:40.240 been deciding? What would happen if the Russians withdrew again? 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:44.360 That be part of whatever kind of diplomacy would unlind 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.480 the crisis in Ukraine. Sadly, Uh, this is a this 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.040 as you say, is a hypothetical question. We see no signs, unfortunately, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.040 that the Russians have any intention of withdrawing right now, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.000 and indeed, their military operations in Ukraine continue to escalate. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:03.600 They continue to um, you know, attack more civilians, more 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.360 civilian sights. The fighting continues to get more and more 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.319 fear So, we offered President Putting a number of diplomatic 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.280 off ramps in the run up to this invasion. We 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.920 offered him a number of different arrangements, never different possible 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.840 ways in which he could meet with members of the 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.960 coalition and the Ukrainians, a number of different kinds of 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.680 structures to do that. At every juncture, President Putin rejected 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.600 the path of diplomacy, continued on the path of invasion. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.040 And that's what we're seeing unfold right now. Let's talk 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.960 about build back better. UM. I wondered who came up 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.600 with that tongue twister? Um, it's hard to say that quickly. Um. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.160 Was that something that you came up with or who 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:44.920 came up with that? I don't know who came up 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.680 it certainly was the principal slogan for the president's campaign. 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:53.320 Uh in uh was the slogan for most of his 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.880 policies was the umbrella under which most of the policies 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.000 that he ran on build Back Better. Uh, it's actually 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.480 gained some traction on the world. A number of European 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.840 countries have now adopted Build Back Better initiatives. So I 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.960 think it's a slogan that's resonated with people. Uh. It 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:10.280 is a bit of a tongue twister, but I think 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.000 it does have some residents, and it comes from the campaign. 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:18.360 So is the Build Back Better bill that passed the 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.120 House likely to ever see the light of day in 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.760 the Senate? Are you now committed to breaking it up 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.720 and passing individual pieces of it? Well, I think what 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.080 we're gonna try to do is get as many of 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.520 the President's initiatives enacted as possible in the best way possible. 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.440 The Senate has the option to do reconciliation as a 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:41.480 procedural device that takes only fifty votes to pass a 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.280 bill that has tax changes and other kinds of economic 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.599 changes in it. Uh, And that would probably be the 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.520 vehicle we'd use to move some legislation like this through 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.280 the Senate. We're obviously in conversations with a number of 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.800 senators about what elements have the most support. What elements 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.600 are the most effective to get pass to the Senate. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.800 You're the president. Talk about a number those last night, David. 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.559 I think people are very concerned about inflation and very 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.200 concerned about what inflation means to everyday families, and that 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.240 means they pay too much for things, and so key 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.280 parts of the Build Back Better Plan address that directly. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.920 Bring down the cost of childcare, bring down the cost 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.280 of prescription drugs, bring down the cost of elder care, 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.960 bring down the cost of healthcare. So we're looking for 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.560 and most importantly in some ways are equally important, I 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.160 should say, bring down the cost of energy by moving 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.320 us to more of a clean energy economy. So, uh, 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.680 you look at those proposals. There are proposals that meet 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.640 the moment of higher costs, and we're going to continue 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.240 to work with the Senate to find a formula that 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:50.160 moves that agenda forward. So, Ron, you have been criticized 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:54.800 by some for saying that you are so powerful that 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.520 you really are effectively running the whole government. How do 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.600 you respond to that. You're like that, you're the Prime Minister. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.160 It's ridiculous. I'm a staff person. I've been a staff 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.000 person my whole life. I've never run for anything. I've 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.160 never been elected to anything. I've been proud to work 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.760 for some distinguished public servants, Uh, President Biden being one 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.440 of them at several points in time of my career, 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:19.400 President Obama, of course, President Clinton. Uh. That's that's who 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.000 I am. And at the White House, not only am 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.080 a staff person, I'm a staff person who works with 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.920 a number of other enormously talented staff people. So this 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.560 is a real team effort here, team on the policy side, 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.440 team on the strategy side. My job is just to 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.520 help coordinate those people get that advice to the president. Uh. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.120 So that's how I see my role. How do you 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:42.880 respond to the other criticism of some people have had, 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.960 not necessarily of you, but of the president that he 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.480 governed as he campaign as a moderate, but he's governing 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.520 more to the left than people expect it. And what 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.400 is your response to that criticism that some have made. Yeah, look, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.200 I think that that criticism wipes out the history of 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.200 and paign. Uh. There's nothing that the President sent to 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.760 Capitol Hill that he did not put before the voters 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.120 in the campaign. Our economic agenda is the economic agenda 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.240 he ran on an eighty one million Americans voted for 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.720 when they elected him. In fact, if anything, we've trimmed 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.280 that agenda back. The Build Back Better plan that we 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.920 sent to Capitol Hill was significantly smaller than even the 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.240 one we campaigned on. Uh, the infrastructure bill is something 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.440 he campaigned on, the voting rights bill something he campaigned on, 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.440 and the COVID relief package that we started the administration 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.520 with again as something he endorsed in the campaign. So 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.560 he was very straightforward voters about what he would do 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.440 if he were president, and that's what he's done. And look, 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:45.000 the proposals we put forward are substantial y because the 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.720 problems we inherited were substantial. It's not any vision, and 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.840 not any grandiose vision. We inherited an economy that was 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.960 dead in the water, fifty thousand jobs a month, just 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.600 fifty a months the three months before we got here, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.960 virtually debt economy. The government hadn't even bought enough vaccinations 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.120 to give one vaccine to every American, let alone too 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.560 vaccines to ever American, let alone booster shots. We had 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:12.119 no system to really massively distribute and administer those vaccines. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.720 We face a climate crisis. We face all kinds of 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.920 other challenges now, obviously this challenge over in Europe. So 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.800 we've put together proposals to meet the moment, not out 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.879 of some effort to kind of do something bigger than 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.760 we should, but because we inherited very big problems. Uh. 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.080 And and you've seen a lot of progress. We obviously 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.280 then went and created more jobs in one year than 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:38.480 any administration in history, for any administration, says nineteen thirty nine, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.440 according to New York Times fact check, So any administration 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:45.240 since nineteen thirty nine, we uh see the fastest second 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.000 time of growth in forty years. Was the first time 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.000 in twenty years. Our economy grew faster in the year 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.280 than China's economy. So we put in place the kind 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.840 of recovery measures that were needed. We've vaccinated over two 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:59.639 u fully vaccinated over two twenty million Americans. Uh. You 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:01.640 know that these are big tasks we took on this year, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:03.919 and I'm proud of what we've done to achieve them. 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.399 So usually in the after the first year of an administration, 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.800 you see some turnover and a cabinet or something. But 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.640 you haven't had any turnover, and I haven't had any 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.800 scandals either, So, how come you haven't any scandals and 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.440 how come you haven't any turnover? Well, uh, I think 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.119 the president of a very good job of picking a 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.760 cabinet and picking senior officials, and I think the lack 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.960 of scandals reflects that. Uh. I think the lack of 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.879 turnover reflects the fact that these are men and women 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.200 who are very eager to serve, who doing a great job, 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.040 who are making a difference. It's the most diverse cabinet history. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.080 It's the first time in history the cabinet has been 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:40.960 evenly divided between men and women, the first time in 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.880 history that a majority of the cabinet isn't white. And 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.840 it's a diverse cabinet. It's an incredibly talented cabinet, and 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.440 we're very lucky to have their service. The President's favorability 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:54.959 ratings are not as high as I assume you would like, 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.480 and uh, I wondered, how do you win the White 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.400 House deal with that? Well, I think the most important 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.200 thing is the president to do the right thing. And 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.960 I think that what you're seeing right now is um 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.480 a mood in the country that's impacted by the fact 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.160 that this pandemic has lasted longer than anyone thought it would. 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.720 Uh that while we've had tremendous growth on the economy 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.879 and jobs, we're having a problem with inflation, and I 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:25.080 think those things contribute to um generally um uh mood 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.040 in the country that's not as upbeat or confidence we 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.439 would like. What I think in the case of President 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.679 Biden is we made a lot of hard decisions in 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.920 to put in place a new economic strategy that you 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:37.600 heard the President talk about last night in the State 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.399 of the Union, a new COVID strategy that we're again 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.359 updating again today with new steps on COVID UH, and 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.840 those hard decisions I think are starting to show results. 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.640 I fully accept the fact that the American people are 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.160 more show me, not tell me. And what they want 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:55.639 to see is they want to see that we really 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.239 have reached a new way of managing COVID. They want 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.080 to see we really have not just created jobs, but 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:02.760 the jobs are going to stay, the wages are going 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:04.960 to go up. They want to see that these the 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.960 economic recovery is real and sustained. I think the political 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.160 credit will follow from that. When I was here both 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.560 with President Clinton and President Obama, we saw the recovery 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.119 ahead of the politics, and I think you're seeing that 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.920 now too, and so I do think our approval reading 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.800 will go up in the months ahead as the economic recovery, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.720 the progress on covid UH become more permanent, more lasting, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.639 and internalized more by the voters. Now. One of my 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:36.159 former partners at at Carlisle was Jim Baker, and he 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.240 was considered maybe up until you the gold standard of 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.119 how to be chief of staff. But he didn't actually 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.280 like the job that much, and he wound up as 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.399 Secretary of Treasury eventually and as Secretary of State. So 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:48.879 do you have any aspirations to any of those jobs 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.560 or something like that? I don't think so. I think 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.720 when I finished my tenure here, I'll go back. Uh. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:56.560 When I finished my tenure here, I'm gonna like take 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:57.920 a month in sleep, and then I'll figure out what 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.639