US President Joe Biden speaks about the state of vaccinations in response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the East Room at the White House in Washington, March 18, 2021.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
President Joe Biden’s closest advisers have ties to big business and Wall Street, with some making millions of dollars in their careers before entering the White House, new financial revelations show.
The senior Biden assistants mentioned in the disclosures include Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, Senior Adviser Mike Donilon, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients, and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.
These revelations show that many of the president’s closest aides have close ties to the corporate world and have made more money in their past business careers than previously known.
These revelations were provided to CNBC by the White House early Saturday morning after the documents were requested the day before. None of these positions have been endorsed by the Senate. Many of these advisers have previous ties to Biden’s campaign or to former President Barack Obama’s administration.
A White House spokesman did not return a follow-up request for comment.
Deese was previously Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock before becoming the head of the National Economic Council. While at the investment firm, Deese’s revelation reveals that he earned more than $ 2.3 million in salary and bonuses. His disclosure also suggests that Deese could have made an additional $ 2.4 million through BlackRock’s limited stock plan.
Klain, who was an executive at the venture capital firm Revolution before joining the White House, was listed with a salary of $ 1.8 million. He joined the company in 2005.
O’Malley Dillon, who led Biden’s campaign before following him to the White House, co-founded the consulting firm Precision Strategies. The company’s founders are credited with helping Obama re-election in 2012.
O’Malley Dillon’s new financial disclosure provides a glimpse into the business advisory work she did for the company before coming to the White House. The filing lists Gates Ventures as a client of O’Malley Dillon while she worked at Precision Strategies.
According to PitchBook, Gates Ventures is a venture capital firm founded by billionaire Bill Gates. The current Deputy White House Chief of Staff also advised the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic arm of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Other companies that saw her guidance include General Electric and Lyft. O’Malley Dillon’s deferred compensation and dismissal at Precision is listed as over $ 420,000.
Donilon was a managing member of MCD Strategies, a media consulting firm, prior to his role in the White House. His filing shows that he made more than $ 4 million in revenue while running his consulting firm. Donilon cites the Biden Campaign and the Democratic National Convention Committee as two of his clients.
Zients was the CEO of Wall Street investment firm Cranemere before becoming the Biden White House’s chief advisor on the coronavirus pandemic. His financial disclosure reveals that he had a combined salary and bonus of $ 1.6 million. As a Facebook board member, the new report shows that he made more than $ 330,000.