Steve Ricchetti, a longtime Democratic operative and lobbyist, is sitting down with House Oversight Committee investigators Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s known as a member of former President Joe Biden\u2019s inner circle who reportedly played a key role in downplaying concerns, both public and private, about the ex-commander-in-chief\u2019s mental fitness for office.<\/p>\n
Ricchetti also reportedly helped craft Biden\u2019s historic letter announcing the end of his 2024 re-election bid that July, according to the New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But long before that, Ricchetti graduated from Miami University in Ohio and got a Juris Doctor from Virginia\u2019s George Mason University.<\/p>\n
His first major role in electoral politics came when Ricchetti served as executive director for the Senate Democrats\u2019 campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, from 1990 to 1992.<\/p>\n
Ricchetti then worked for former President Bill Clinton as a congressional liaison from 1993 to 1996 and then again as White House deputy chief of staff for operations from 1998 to 2001.<\/p>\n
During that second stint, he played a critical role in wrangling House Democrats during the GOP\u2019s impeachment proceedings against Clinton.<\/p>\n
In between and in later years, Ricchetti enjoyed a lucrative career as a lobbyist, even founding the lobbying firm Ricchetti Inc. with his brother in 2001.<\/p>\n
His work with Biden began in 2012 when Ricchetti was appointed to be counselor to the vice president during the Obama administration \u2013 one of several ex-lobbyists appointed to that White House, despite former President Barack Obama\u2019s vow not to hire K Street operatives. He was soon elevated to be Biden\u2019s chief of staff in late 2013.<\/p>\n
Ricchetti also chaired Biden\u2019s 2020 campaign before playing a critical role in his administration, where he acted as part of a small ‘Politburo’ of close advisors who helped control the White House, Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN host Jake Tapper wrote in their book ‘Original Sin.’<\/p>\n
‘In terms of who was running the White House, it\u2019s a small group of people that have been around,’ Thompson told the PBS program ‘Washington Week’ earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Several members of Ricchetti\u2019s family also notably had roles in the Biden administration; two of his sons and his daughter worked for the Treasury, State Department, and in the White House, respectively.<\/p>\n
At the time, the White House argued they got the jobs on their merits rather than their father\u2019s closeness to Biden.<\/p>\n
Ricchetti also reportedly played a key role in dismissing concerns about Biden\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n
Two weeks after Biden\u2019s disastrous debate against current President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported that Ricchetti got into a ‘shouting’ argument with Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., after the latter called to express concerns about Biden\u2019s political viability.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
U.K.-based outlet The Times reported that Ricchetti ‘sounded like a mob boss’ in a conversation with actor George Clooney days before the Hollywood star and longtime Democratic donor penned an explosive op-ed calling for a new 2024 nominee in early July 2024.<\/p>\n
And multiple outlets have reported that Ricchetti also denied any concerns about Biden\u2019s mental acuity in an off-the-record conversation with an unnamed reporter at an unnamed outlet that almost ran a story shining a light on concerns about Biden\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n
Ricchetti is the seventh ex-Biden aide to speak with investigators in House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer\u2019s probe into whether White House officials covered up signs of Biden\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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