Zients has maintained close ties to departing chief of staff Ron Klain and other senior Biden aides dating back to the Obama administration, when he did stints atop the National Economic Council and Office of Management and Budget.
In recent months, Klain had tasked Zients with overseeing a project to prepare for the expected staff transition that typically occurs following the midterms. The move underscored Zients’ status as an administration insider and broadened his familiarity with the staff he’ll soon lead. The president, a person familiar with the decision said, views Zients as a “master implementer.”
But what Zients has in organization acumen he lacks in extensive political experience. He will likely be relied on to manage the day-to-day workings of the White House, allowing other senior advisers to focus more on Biden’s expected reelection campaign, one person familiar with the matter said.
While he’s cultivated a wide array of relationships within Democratic circles, Zients has also been the subject of rising criticism from the party’s progressive wing over his background in management consulting and handling of the pandemic, which has persisted well beyond his exit as Covid czar.
In a statement released by the Revolving Door Project, Zients was characterized as someone who “has become astonishingly rich by profiteering in health care” companies and who embodies the “corporate misconduct” that the executive branch needs to penalize.
“We have long argued for a ‘corporate crackdown’ on behaviors that violate federal laws and harm the American people in order for corporations to become richer. Those are the practices that have made Zients rich,” the organization’s founder and director, Jeff Hauser, said in the statement. “We’re deeply worried that Zients will prevent the administration from exercising power righteously on behalf of an already cynical populace.”
But Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, gave Zients the benefit of the doubt in his ability to cultivate a constructive relationship.
“Ron Klain has been an open ear and even-handed engager of actors across the Democratic Party,” Green said in a statement. “Whomever the next chief of staff is, that will be the continued hope and expectation. There will likely be an early relationship and trust-building stage.”
Zients’ selection is also likely to disappoint some Democrats who saw Klain’s exit as a prime opportunity for Biden to appoint a woman or person of color as his top aide.
[ad_2]
#Jeff #Zients #Bidens #chief #staff
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Jaipur: Kashmir has “almost totally mainstreamed”, with Pakistan out of Kashmiri minds and separatism and the Hurriyat “all finished”, former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief A S Dulat said on Sunday.
He maintained that there was no need to scrap Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying there was nothing left in it and it was only a “fig leaf”.
Speaking at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival here, he cited Prince Harry’s recently released memoir “Spare” and said the former senior British royal wrote that “in the abnormalities of life, the only thing he found normal and enjoyed was Afghanistan”. Dulat said he could say the same about Kashmir.
Prince Harry had joined British troops on the front line fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Dulat was also of the view that militancy will continue to come down but “terrorism will stay unless we sort it out with Pakistan” and batted for dialogue with the neighbouring country.
“Pakistan has been an inherent part of Kashmir. Since 1947, what the government of India has been trying to do is to mainstream Kashmir and get Pakistan out of the Kashmiri minds. And I think we’ve succeeded to a very large extent.
“Today, Kashmir has almost totally mainstreamed. The separatism, the Hurriyat that we talk about is all finished,” said Dulat who headed the intelligence agency during 1999-2000.
He was in conversation with senior journalist Mandira Nayar about his latest book “A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir”, published by HarperCollins India.
“I had argued that we didn’t have to do away with Article 370 because there was nothing left in it. It was only a fig leaf which had provided a Kashmiri a little bit of dignity…,” the retired IPS officer of the 1965 batch explained.
The Centre abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
It was, however, unfortunate that Delhi had always viewed the region in “black and white” and ignored its “greys”.
While referring to Prince Harry’s remark on his stint with the British military in Afghanistan, he said, “I could say the same about Kashmir. We still love it, enjoy it, and go there… Unfortunately, Delhi has always been seen in it black and white. They don’t understand the greys.”
“If you go to Kashmir, not just for holiday to Gulmarg or Pahalgam. But go and interact with the people in Srinagar, you’ll find they are the kindest, gentlest and nicest people. The grey comes from deviousness.
“But I’ve spoken to a lot of Kashmiri leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is presently locked up. And he says ‘Yes, we tend to be a little devious, but that’s what you’ve taught us because you’ve never spoken the truth to us. So, we also lie to you,” he added.
Dulat, who is the only RAW chief to have visited Pakistan, said he had been to the neighbouring country four times between 2010 and 2012.
“I have been to Lahore twice and also visited Islamabad and Karachi. It was a great experience,” he added.
Dulat said he got to know Pakistan better through Track 2 or backchannel diplomacy.
In his latest book, “A Life in the Shadows”, he also talks about Ajit Doval, the current National Security Advisor of India.
At one point, there was a conversation about bringing Doval across to Pakistan, a chance, Dulat said, the neighbours lost.
Asked to draw parallels between the ‘Doval Doctrine’ and the ‘Dulat Doctrine’, the former head of India’s external intelligence agency said he didn’t have a doctrine.
“Mr Doval has a doctrine, I don’t know. People talk about it,” he added.
Dulat, who retired from service in 2000, said efforts were also made to start a military-to-military dialogue.
“We were talking over each other. When we began to talk, suddenly, the Pakistanis complained, nothing was happening. Everything is status quo ante. We must try to find a way to move forward. I said, ‘Just invite Ajit Doval to Lahore’.”
Incidentally, Doval attended the first two sessions of the Track 2 diplomacy, he said.
“As 2014 got closer, he knew which way he was headed. And, so he opted out,” Dulat said.
He said he has often squabbled with his Pakistani friends who talk about Kashmir with “a lot of authority”.
“But I tell them ‘You don’t know Kashmir. Kashmir is India. We deal with them on an everyday basis so we understand them’.
“A Kashmiri will tell you something in Islamabad, something in Srinagar. It’s the same between Srinagar and Delhi, but at least we understand each other.”
According to Dulat, a “new murmur” has started in Srinagar “that Sheikh Sahab made a huge mistake in 1947. That Kashmir should have gone with Jinnah”.
“But that’s a small, minuscule number,” he said.
India’s current “muscular policy” was paying dividends in curbing militancy in Kashmir, he said.
“My argument is militancy has come down and will continue to come down. But terrorism will stay unless we sort it out with Pakistan. It’s important to talk to Pakistan and also China,” said Dulat, who served in Kashmir when militancy was at its peak.
Dulat also talked fondly about Asad Durrani, his counterpart and former director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Their equation took the shape of the 2018 book “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”.
Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s chief of staff, is reportedly set to step down from his position, in what will be the biggest change to the US president’s inner circle of advisors since he took office two years ago.
Klain will announce his departure in the coming weeks, according to the New York Times, after telling colleagues that he is ready to move on following a grueling period of successes and frustrations that stretch back to Biden’s successful 2020 election campaign.
“Two hard years,” Klain tweeted on Friday, marking the second anniversary of Biden’s inauguration. “So much to be done. But so much progress.”
The impending exit of Klain follows a period where the chief of staff worked to secure Biden’s legislative priorities, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill and last year’s inflation reduction act, which was achieved following 18 months of often torturous negotiations between the White House and lawmakers, most notably Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia.
More recently, Biden has come under scrutiny for alleged improper handling of federal documents, as well as fresh pressure from Republicans in their new majority in the House of Representatives. The new chief of staff is expected to have to mount a defense of Biden’s victories so far, as well as oversee the lead-up to a likely re-election bid by the 80-year-old president.
Klain, who is 61, has a long record in Democratic political circles, having been involved in both of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns, acted as chief of staff to both Al Gore and then Biden when the men served as vice president previously. Klain, a lawyer by training, also oversaw the Obama administration’s response to an outbreak of Ebola in 2014.
He was named as Biden’s chief of staff just a few days after the 2020 election victory was secured.
[ad_2]
#Ron #Klain #reportedly #step #Biden #chief #staff
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Klain is expected to depart in the coming weeks. He finalized his decision to leave to coincide with the administration’s two-year anniversary, which he and other staffers marked Friday with a hearty celebration of their accomplishments.
It comes as the administration enters a new phase of Biden’s presidency, pivoting from legislating to fending off investigations by the new House GOP majority and preparing for the president’s likely reelection campaign.
News of Klain’s impending departure was first reported by the New York Times.
A prolific tweeter and emailer known for working 16-hour days, Klain largely succeeded in making the West Wing a cohesive workplace — although detractors both inside and outside the building criticized his tendency to micromanage and at times questioned his political instincts. Despite Biden’s low approval numbers and persistent inflation, Democrats did far better than expected in November’s midterm election, validating Biden’s tenure and Klain’s approach.
Biden, who relied heavily on Klain and a small group of senior aides who’ve been with him for years, had urged him to remain in the job. But many White House staffers acknowledged the physical grind of the high-pressure position and wondered how long he could keep up his pace.
Some of those senior aides, including presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti and senior adviser Anita Dunn, are among the most discussed names of Klain’s potential successor. Jeff Zients, who served as Biden’s first coronavirus coordinator and who Klain tasked with managing the expected staff and Cabinet turnover following the midterms, is also mentioned frequently as a potential next chief of staff.
[ad_2]
#Ron #Klain #set #depart #Bidens #chief #staff
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to Harish Chander, the man accused of dragging Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal by car for 10-15 metres outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on January 19 after her hand got stuck in the vehicle’s window.
Sanghamitra, the Mahila Court Metropolitan Magistrate at the Saket court complex, noted that at this point, it is not proved whether the accused might threaten witnesses or tamper with evidence.
“Considering the facts and circumstances of the present case, I am of the view that no useful purpose will be served by keeping the accused behind bars,” she said.
She granted Chander bail on certain conditions like he shall not attemot to get in touch with the complainant, her family members, witnesses, threaten them or tamper with any evidence.
Directing the accused to cooperate with the probe, she directed the accused to furnish a bond of Rs 50,000 along with a surety of the same amount.
Chander was arrested after a case under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Kotla Mubarakpur police station.
Chander’s counsel submitted that Maliwal has falsely implicated his client in the case, adding that the his client drove away the car further as he was afraid of being looted.
The court was informed that the police have declared that the matter would not need any further custodial interrogation.
Maliwal’s lawyer said that it is important to take into account the danger the individual poses to the citizens of the national capital.
The DCW chief had alleged that she was molested by a drunk man while on an inspection at night, adding that she was dragged for 10-15 metres by his car outside AIIMS after her hand got stuck in the vehicle’s window.
After a video of the incident surfaced on social media, several BJP leaders had termed the incident as a staged drama by Maliwal, intended to defame Delhi internationally by showing the national capital as an unsafe city for women. They had also claimed that the accused Chander is a prominent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker in the Sangam Vihar area. Incidentally, Maliwal is an AAP appointee.
Coming down heavily on the BJP’s allegations on Saturday, Maliwal said that she will keep fighting till she is alive.
Taking to Twitter, Maliwal said: “Let me tell those who think that they will scare me by telling dirty lies about me. I have done many big things in this short life, with a shroud on my head. I was attacked many times, but did not stop. With every atrocity, the fire inside me grew stronger. No one can suppress my voice. I will keep fighting as long as I am alive!”
New Delhi: Indian wrestlers called off their protest late on Friday evening after a second meeting at the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s residence in the national capital.
The meeting lasted beyond midnight, following which wrestler Bajrang Punia announced to the media that the other wrestlers are calling off the protest after assurance of action from Thakur against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
The wrestlers have been staging a protest since Wednesday, accusing WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment of women wrestlers, sponsorship fund embezzlement, and athletes’ mismanagement.
“After receiving the assurance from our Sports Minister, we have decided to call off the protest,” said Punia.
The meeting at the Sports Minister’s residence lasted for more than five hours after the wrestlers — Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia, and others — reached at 7 p.m.
Thakur said that his Ministry have listened to the grievances of the wrestlers and steps will be taken accordingly, while adding that demands of the wrestlers will be taken care of.
“I want to thank all the players as they have provided us with valuable inputs and our discussions have been about taking forward the sports. We have seen changes in multiple sports federations in the recent past and this will be looked upon,” he added.
“The demands put in by the wrestlers will be taken care of. We will constitute an oversight committee and will announce the name of members tomorrow.”
He assured that an unbiased probe will be carried by the oversight committee on all the accusations levelled against the WFI and its President with the latter stepping aside from his post.
“The committee will investigate all the serious allegations, including sexual harassment and financial irregularities. It will be investigated properly and the committee will take further decisions,” Thakur added.
“The committee will also look into the daily affairs of the federation and the WFI President will step aside till the probe goes on. He will also cooperate in the investigation,” the Sports Minister confirmed.
Bajrang Punia also added that Thakur has also ensured safety to the wrestlers as he hoped that the committee will conclude its investigation in a month’s time.
“Thank you everyone for your valuable support. Hopefully, the committee will give results in one month and we are hopeful of an independent investigation. Our security will be taken care of as assured by the Sports Minister,” he said.
New Delhi: The BJP on Friday raised questions over DCW chief Swati Maliwal’s molestation claims, alleging that the person she accused is an AAP member and her “drama” was part of a conspiracy which has now been “exposed”.
Several BJP leaders hit out at Maliwal, an Aam Aadmi Party appointee.
An immediate reaction was not available from the AAP on the issue.
Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, had alleged that she was molested by a drunk man while on an inspection at night and dragged for 10-15 metres by his car outside AIIMS with her hand stuck in the vehicle’s window. The accused, a 47-year-old man, was arrested.
BJP leader Shazia Ilmi tweeted that Maliwal’s “drama” has been exposed.
“@AamAadmiParty and… did a sting to defame Delhi and its police and serious questions arise on its credibility. Is cheap politics legitimate on the serious issue of women safety? she asked.
Former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh said by indulging in such drama, Maliwal should not weaken women.
Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said Harish Chandra Suryavanshi, who was accused of harassing Maliwal, is actually a prominent activist of the Aam Aadmi Party in Sangam Vihar.
Sachdeva released a photo in which the accused is seen campaigning with AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal.
Sachdeva said with the revelation of the photo and Suryavanshi’s background, “it has become clear that the incident was a conspiracy of AAP to defame Delhi internationally by showing the city as an unsafe city for women”.
The committee’s decision to reject Hector LaSalle after a bruising confirmation hearing means that the full Senate will not consider her choice. The decision, which failed by one vote, is an extraordinary blow to Hochul as the six-month legislative session gets underway.
Hochul swiftly dismissed the committee’s integrity and authority and called for a full Senate vote. The fight pits the moderate governor against the Democratic majority in the Legislature and its allies who rallied against LaSalle, who would have been the state’s first Latino chief judge of the state Court of Appeals.
LaSalle’s opponents, despite his backing among Latino leaders and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were able to outflank Hochul, who has left open the possibility of suing to bring her pick to the Senate floor for a vote.
“While this was a thorough hearing, it was not a fair one, because the outcome was predetermined,” Hochul said in a statement. “Several senators stated how they were going to vote before the hearing even began — including those who were recently given seats on the newly expanded Judiciary Committee. While the Committee plays a role, we believe the Constitution requires action by the full Senate.”
The committee chair, Manhattan Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, said the judiciary’s nearly five hours of public questioning Wednesday fulfilled the review process, and he was incredulous Hochul wanted to stoke a brawl over the state constitution.
“I hope that litigation is not our future — it’s obviously the governor’s decision, but we have so much work to do in Albany. To be distracted by a lawsuit would be a travesty for the people of New York,” he said.
Ten Democrats on the 19-member panel voted against LaSalle, two voted for him and one, along with the committee’s six Republicans, voted to advance the nomination “without recommendation.”
But it was one vote short, a rare case of a vote in Albany failing to get approved. It could put Hochul in a weakened position heading into the six-month legislative session after expending her political capital on LaSalle over other potential candidates and after narrowly winning the election last November in the closest race in New York since 1994.
“I hope and I’m sure that few of us have time to extract revenge and so on,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said about the decision and Hochul’s rejection. “We have work to do, and we have work to do on behalf of the people, and we never lose sight of that.”
Most of the votes had been all but decided prior to the hearing — the culmination of weeks of tension surrounding LaSalle’s ethnicity, record and relationship with the court’s status quo that has resulted in an intraparty clash exacerbated by Hochul’s fierce defense of her pick.
At the heart of discourse Wednesday was whether LaSalle’s ability to drive forth Democratic values could be determined by dissecting any number of some 5,000 cases included on his legal record, including a handful of decisions he had joined that invited labels from opponents such as “anti-abortion” and “anti-labor.”
LaSalle, who currently presides over the New York Supreme Court’s Second Department in Brooklyn, said that his positions have been misrepresented based on conclusions drawn from a small fraction of cases.
“When we talk about my record, I couldn’t agree with you more — we should look at the record, but I only ask that this body look at my entire record, not the record that certain advocates have chosen to look at,” he said.
“We can look at those — it’s entirely fair, I’d only ask that you look at the others and give those equal weight.”
Opposition to LaSalle’s nomination snowballed since Hochul chose him from a seven-member list in late December. It has reached such a fever pitch that Hochul raised eyebrows on Sunday by comparing the treatment of LaSalle to that of Martin Luther King Jr. during a speech in a Brooklyn church.
Hochul has pointed to LaSalle’s strong legal reputation, his intention to reinvigorate the state’s massive court system following pandemic-related delays, and the historic possibility of having the first Latino chief judge. Several Democratic senators and progressive advocacy groups had decried the more moderate pick as the wrong direction for the increasingly conservative-leaning top court, particularly due to his background as a former prosecutor.
Wednesday’s hearing was atypical amid normally quiet procedural committee votes — preceded by two opposing rallies from the primary groups organizing around the pick — The Court New York Deserves and Latinos for LaSalle. The demonstrations continued into the packed hearing room, with chants of “Hector, Hector” as LaSalle entered, forcing Hoylman-Sigal to pound the committee’s small, largely symbolic gavel.
“This isn’t going to be a roast, but it won’t be your bar mitzvah, either,” Hoylman-Sigal told LaSalle.
Hoylman-Sigal began the hearing suggesting that LaSalle’s rulings “lean toward the prosecution and against civil rights” and pointed to groups like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund that have announced opposition. He was also among a number of senators who expressed concern that LaSalle said he was proud to have run on Republican, Democrat, Working Families Party and Conservative party lines during judicial elections.
“As an LGBTQ person, the Conservative Party stands for everything I’m against, against my right to marry, against my ability to have kids, against transgender youth,” he said. “It’s hurtful.”
LaSalle, 54, sought to address the framing of several cases that have emerged in the discourse.
One was related to a crisis pregnancy center that limited subpoena access to their promotional materials for an investigation by the state attorney general.
LaSalle said that his agreement with the decision was not an indication he personally defends crisis pregnancy centers. But he did agree with the boundaries set on what prosecutors could obtain amid the investigation.
Another involved Communications Workers of America and a company’s ability to sue a union official as an individual.
LaSalle said the decision he supported was not new — it was the application of a necessary precedent set out decades earlier. He also drew attention to his background as “a working class kid, from Brentwood, New York” and said labor got him to his position today.
“So when people say I’m anti labor because of the decision in Cablevision, I believe that’s simply a mischaracterization intended to derail my nomination, but it’s certainly not an adequate characterization of who I am,” he said.
But though LaSalle expressed the nuances of the legal choices he’s made, he also stated: “I stand by every decision I signed on to.”
The hearing was an odd twist on a nominee from a Democratic governor —most of the committee’s Democrats hammered him on political and ideological positions, casting doubt on his ability to lead New York’s massive court system and to head a bench responsible for countering conservative decisions coming down from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Republicans, however, were effusive with their praise for a record they say proved he’d approach the role with fairness. Some members of the GOP have expressed no small amount of glee at the messaging — some of it dividing their colleagues in the majority party.
“You know, reading your decisions, and especially in listening to your opening statement, I thought for a moment I was in the wrong room. You do not come across as a right wing conservative nut,” Staten Island Republican Andrew Lanza said.
Lanza said while he doesn’t agree with Hochul often, he “can’t imagine her finding a more qualified nominee.”
The intensity of the public discourse has amounted to “character assassination,” said Bronx Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, one of the two Democrats who approved the nomination.
But both lawmakers and LaSalle said that has not been representative of conversations they’ve had privately. In the end, the committee’s decision was only a nod to the important implications of the nomination, Queens Sen. John Liu said, and “none of this is personal.”
“Everyone has treated me with respect and dignity,” LaSalle said. “The private conversations that I have had have not mirrored the public statements that have been made.”
[ad_2]
#Hochuls #chief #judge #pick #rejected #party #stunning #defeat
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
