going forward, and it s noting that the special counsel isn t technically up and running yet. this has a number of steps to go and is very much a live process. we learned yesterday you and kaitlan collins reported the chief of staff is going to be stepping down and going to be replaced by jeff zients. he s very well known in washington and also very well known in the building behind me. he was president biden s covid response coordinator when he first came into office when the pandemic was raging throughout the country. he was the co-chair of his transition team as well. before that he served in a number of high-ranking positions inside the obama administration. ron klain is obviously a powerful chief of staff and has his hands in everything that comes across the president s desk, across the administration. his departure is significant, someone who has known and worked with the president for decades and has been integral to the operations in the building. it was something
telegraphed, telling people for several months he expected to leave at the start of the year. zients will take over, and while he may not be the political operator, white house officials make clear it s his operations ability and what he s known for in terms of keeping the trains running on time they view as so critical in this moment, where president biden will be dealing with house republicans and dealing with the implementation of all of the cornerstone legislative achievements of his first two years, in part as this investigation with the spoecial counsel is ongoing. this is trying to keep the white house separate from the investigation and keep things running on time, very much in line, as the investigation and the president s legal team keep handling what is an uncertain timeline going forward. thank you so much. here to discuss, cnn anchor and correspondent kaitlan collins and ellie honig. merrick garland addressed the biden document investigation and the trump document inve