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With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

BREAKING —JEFF ZIENTS will replace RON KLAIN as President JOEBIDEN’s chief of staff.

WaPo: “Zients left the White House in April after steering the administration’s pandemic response and leading the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. He returned to the White House in the fall to help Klain prepare for staff turnover after the midterms — a project that was ultimately limited in scope, as few senior staff members have left across the administration. But, in recent weeks, Klain has assigned him different projects, which some viewed as preparing Zients for the top role, people familiar with the arrangement said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.”

POLITICO: “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. … 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.”

BTW, it’s pronounced Zi-ents.

KLAIN’S LEGACY — The average tenure for a White House chief of staff since 1969 is 15 months. Some have beat that record by a lot. DENIS McDONOUGH spent exactly four years as BARACK OBAMA’s chief. Others have flamed out quickly. REINCE PRIEBUS was in the job for DONALD TRUMP for just 192 days.

It was not a sure thing that Klain would last more than two years. It was not even a sure thing that he would get the job. Back in 2015, after the longtime Biden adviser moved into the HILLARY CLINTON camp, he emailed a friend to note how hard it was to “to play such a role in the Biden demise.” He believed his days in Biden world were over. “I am definitely dead to them,” he wrote.

Even after Biden brought him back inside and Klain became central to the 2020 campaign, he was not a shoo-in for chief of staff. The choice came down to Klain and STEVE RICCHETTI, and the latter may have won out if not for a lobbying background that sparked a backlash from progressives.

Despite Klain’s well-known role as the public cheerleader for Bidenism over the last two years, he had moments of private doubt.

In “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House,” Chris Whipple, who had regular access to Klain for the last two years, reports that the Biden chief considered leaving a year into the job when he was being blamed for multiple crises, including a stalled legislative agenda and an epic falling out with Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.).

But Klain stayed, Biden lowered his expectations and let Manchin recraft Build Back Better into the Inflation Reduction Act. Klain took delight in reminding the pessimists that Biden’s two-year legislative agenda was more comparable to LYNDON JOHNSON’s and FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’s than Obama’s and BILL CLINTON’s.

But when a shellacking was predicted in the midterms, it presented another opportunity to leave.

According to someone familiar with Klain’s thinking, as the midterms approached, some of his friends suggested he exit the White House, lest he be blamed for the coming red wave. MACK McLARTY, Clinton’s first chief of staff, and RAHM EMANUEL, Obama’s first, had both departed before Election Day. Klain argued publicly in 2021 that passing the Biden agenda — which was more popular than Clinton’s (gun restrictions, an energy tax) and Obama’s (ACA, cap and trade) — could mitigate midterm losses. Privately, Klain decided that he would bet his “chief of staff obituary” on that outcome or take the fall if he was wrong.

After the legislative victories piled up on Biden’s desk,Klain told us in August that a “season of substance” might save the Democrats in November. Others were more doubtful. A POLITICO piece published on Election Day and based on reporting from “[m]ore than a dozen administration and congressional officials,” channeled a stream of criticism about Klain, including his overly rosy view of the midterms.

But Klain was more right than wrong. And he wasn’t shy about telling people.

Klain sent Whipple a note after 1 a.m. on election night. “Maybe we don’t suck as much as people thought,” he told the author. “Like maybe the nattering negatives who dumped to Politico were wrong!”

Klain leaves with a mixed record. There was the Afghanistan withdrawal, inflation, some missteps on Covid and Klain’s mishandling of the Manchin relationship in late 2021.

But there was also an impressive tally of legislative victories despite tiny margins in Congress, a long list of confirmed judges, an historic effort to unite Europe and confront Russia in Ukraine, the so far successful recalibration to fight inflation without ending up in a recession, the best midterm for the president’s party since 2002, and running a stable and relatively drama-free White House. (An important caveat: History has a way of shredding lists like this. Getting out of Afghanistan may look better over time, while the commitment to Ukraine could turn into a disaster. The legacy of the infrastructure law and IRA could be tarnished if they aren’t implemented properly.)

Klain sent an email to staffers on Friday as they celebrated the second anniversary of Biden’s inauguration. He noted that it wasn’t just the outcomes he was proud of. “We celebrate not only WHAT was accomplished,” he wrote, “but HOW it was accomplished: through teamwork, collaboration, mutual respect, and a lot of hard work.”

Zients will have a tough act to follow. Klain was such a powerful chief of staff that his departure may mean that the Biden White House will require a more significant reshuffling.

“They may have to elevate several people,” said a Biden adviser. “Make it more of a division of labor. I think Ron’s been the most consequential and influential chief of staff in the history of the position. It is hard to imagine any one person with his skill set.”

DOC CASE LATEST — In what we are sure is just a coincidence, the two-day news cycle about change at the top of the White House is occurring as another batch of classified documents was found among Biden’s papers in a non-secure location.

Biden invited Justice Department lawyers to search his Delaware home on Friday. They searched “covered all working, living and storage spaces,” according to Biden’s personal lawyer, BOB BAUER. After 13 hours, Bauer said, they left with “six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President. DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years.”

A former administration official who was careful to note that the Biden and Trump doc cases are very different, told Playbook they were surprised at the long list of still-unanswered questions about the Biden documents.

“We don’t know the total number of documents,” the former official said. “We don’t know the exact classified levels of these documents. For instance, Top Secret vs. Top Secret/SCI. Those are very different. We don’t know the subject matter of the documents. And we don’t know what part of the house these new documents were found in.” More from Christopher Cadelago

The Sunday shows were filled with pols responding to the news:

Manchin: “It’s just hard to believe that in the United States of America we have a former president and the current president, they’re basically in the same situation. How has this happened? You know, the only thing I can tell you, Chuck, is when I go into the SCIF with the secure documents, they always ask, ‘Are you clean?’ when you walk out. They want to make sure you're not carrying anything out. You know, and it might be a mistake, you might just put it in your other papers, but you double-check it right there. … And to put those in unsecured spaces is irresponsible.”

NBC's Chuck Todd: “President Biden said he had no regrets in how he handled this. Do you have any advice for him on how he should handle this going forward?”

Manchin: “Oh, I think he should have a lot of regrets.”

Manchin, asked whether the documents drama should affect Biden’s decision to run in 2024, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Well, he has to make — that's a personal decision with him and his family, you know?”

Sen. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) on whether it diminishes Biden’s “high ground” over Trump on the issue, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Well, of course. Let’s be honest about it. When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it, because it’s not supposed to happen. Whether it was the fault of a staffer or attorney, it makes no difference. The elected official bears ultimate responsibility.”

Rep. MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) on “State of the Union”: “I’m sending a letter out tomorrow to the State Department and Secretary [ANTONY] BLINKEN asking for what communications, what contacts were made. What were these documents?”

Rep. MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio) on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “Now that we learned that some of these [documents] go back to his Senate time, you know, clearly he’s become a serial classified document hoarder. Why did he have these? Who did he show them to? I mean, the only reason you can think of as to why anyone would take classified documents out of a classified space at home is … to show them to somebody.”

Rep. NANCY MACE (R-S.C.) on “Meet the Press”: “I do want to see, at the end of the day, the special counsel, the DOJ treat both [Biden and Trump] equally. … It’s really not about intent; it’s about knowledge of … ‘Do you know you have these documents,’ and storing them, and not giving them back to the appropriate sources, like the National Archives.”

Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. What is your advice to Zients? Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

TRAGEDY IN LOS ANGELES — “Gunman still on the loose after 10 killed in mass shooting in Monterey Park dance studio,” by the L.A. Times’ Summer Lin, Jeong Park, Rebecca Ellis, Richard Winton, Libor Jany, Rong-Gong Lin Il, Julia Wick and Hayley Smith

SUNDAY BEST …

— Manchin on his political future, on “Meet the Press”: Todd: “If you run for office in 2024, you going to run as a Democrat?” Manchin: “Chuck, I haven't made a decision what I'm going to do in 2024. I’ve got two years ahead of me now to do the best I can for the state and for my country.” Todd: “What's on the table? Is reelection on the table?” Manchin: “Everything's on the table.” Todd: “Is running for governor on the table or no?” Manchin: “No, no, I have done that.”

Manchin on whether it’s a mistake for the Biden administration to not negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling, on “State of the Union”: “I think it’s a mistake, because we have to negotiate. … We should be able to talk and find out where our differences are. And if they are irreconcilable, then you have to move on from there and let the people make their decisions. Using the debt ceiling and holding it hostage hasn't worked in the past, OK? And anyone who wants to look at what happened in 2011 and 2013, then go ahead.”

— Rep. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-Pa.) on debt ceiling negotiations, on “Fox News Sunday”: “When you have a divided government, four-vote Republican margin in the House, a one-vote Democratic margin in the Senate, divided chambers — you have to negotiate. That’s what the American people elected us to do, is to work this out. So nobody should be taking the position that we’re not going to negotiate. That’s very irresponsible.”

— Mace on whether debt ceiling negotiations are a good time to use leverage to get spending cuts, on “Meet the Press”: “Well, there's no time like the present, because we have the debt ceiling looming over us, to talk about this. … This is both parties' faults. Now is the best time to have this conversation.”

— Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) on Republicans’ push for spending cuts, on “Face the Nation”: “Let ’em put cuts on the table. Is it cutting Social Security or Medicare that RICK SCOTT wanted to do? Or cutting aid to Ukraine in the middle of a war between a democracy and an illegally invading dictator? Let them put on the table what they want to cut, so that the American public can see what their priorities are.”

TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.

• Barton Swaim in WSJ: “Jim Webb on Echoes of Vietnam, 50 Years Later”
• Ross Douthat in NYT: “​​Five Rules for an Aging World”
• Leo Valdes and Kinnon MacKinnon in The Atlantic: “Take Detransitioners Seriously” 
• Ian Millhiser for Vox: “A new Supreme Court case could turn every workplace into a religious battleground”
• Rich Lowry in POLITICO Magazine: “The Co-dependency of Biden and Trump”
• Lydia Polgreen in NYT: “Nurses Are Burned Out and Fed Up, With Good Reason”
• Christopher Grobe in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Why I’m Not Scared of ChatGPT”
• The WSJ Editorial Board: “The GOP’s Fair Tax Masochism”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR

1. 50 YEARS AFTER ROE: “Abortion at crossroads after midterms with focus on states,” by AP’s Chris Megerian and Seung Min Kim: “The decision for Harris to speak in Tallahassee, [Florida’s] state capital, reflects how the battle lines have shifted since last summer. Now that there’s no more national right to abortion, debates over the issue will play out in individual statehouses rather than in the halls of Congress or before the Supreme Court. White House officials this past week convened top lawmakers from eight states to discuss pending legislation.”

2. 2024 WATCH: “Anti-Abortion Voters Have Picked an Early 2024 Favorite. It’s Not Trump,” by Rolling Stone’s Kara Voght and Tessa Stuart: “Two thousand attendees at the National Pro-Life Summit cast their votes on Saturday for their favorite prospective GOP nominee for president in 2024. The winner is: Florida Governor RON DeSANTIS. It was the first 2024 straw poll conducted among anti-abortion voters, one of the Republican Party’s most loyal voting blocs. DeSantis banked more than half of the votes cast, 53.73 percent. Former President Donald Trump placed in a distant second with just 19.22 percent.”

Related read: “Trump team struggles to muster support ahead of S.C. event,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey: “Many of the state’s lawmakers and political operatives, and even some of his previous supporters, are not ready to pick a presidential candidate. They find themselves divided between their support for Trump, their desire for a competitive nomination fight in the state and their allegiance to two South Carolina natives, former governor NIKKI HALEY and Sen. TIM SCOTT, who have taken steps to challenge Trump for the nomination.”

3. YELLEN SPEAKIN’: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLENsat down with AP’s Fatima Hussein for an exclusive interview in Dakar, Senegal. Yellen, per the AP, said “she expects Congress will ultimately vote to raise America’s debt limit, but demands by House Republicans for spending cuts in return for backing an increase are ‘a very irresponsible thing to do’ and risk creating a ‘self-imposed calamity’ for the global economy.”

— Top-ed: “The Republican con on the debt ceiling,” by Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) for the Boston Globe

— Related read: “How the U.S. Government Amassed $31 Trillion in Debt,” by NYT’s Jim Tankersley: “In just two decades, America has added $25 trillion in debt. How it got itself into this fiscal position has its roots in a political miscalculation at the end of the Cold War.”

4. COMING ATTRACTIONS: “Storied Senate Judiciary panel eyes a new era of quieter productivity,” by Marianne LeVine: “With Democrats now set to hold an actual majority, the Judiciary Committee will no longer rely on GOP cooperation to advance President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench — and gone are the days of required extra votes to get judges to the floor. On top of that clearer confirmation conveyor belt, which will help Biden put his stamp on the judiciary more quickly, its 51-seat majority gives Biden’s party subpoena power.”

5. THE RNC RACE: “RNC chair challenger looks to Never Trumpers for a boost,” by Natalie Allison and Meridith McGraw: “In a last-ditch effort to upend the Republican National Committee chair race, challenger HARMEET RHILLON has begun a full court press of various factions of a party in search of skeptics of current chair RONNA McDANIEL. Her efforts have included reaching out to some of the biggest names in Republican politics.

“But her team has also made a concerted effort in recent days to court a small number of anti-Trump RNC members, according to two people familiar with the strategy. They’ve sought to make the case that McDaniel’s connections to the former president, who hand-picked her as chair after his 2016 victory, will prevent her from being completely neutral in an upcoming presidential primary, a criticism McDaniel has publicly rejected.”

6. CRACK THAT WHIP: “Hockey brawls to debt limit: Emmer wrangles House GOP votes,” by AP’s Lisa Mascaro: “The way Republican Rep. TOM EMMER tells it, the lousiest job he ever had — he has a saltier way of describing it — was running the House Republican campaign committee. But after having helped lead his party back into control of the House in November, the former youth hockey coach now must round up votes from those Republicans, as the majority whip, in order to pass GOP priorities.”

7. FOR YOUR AWARENESS: “A top Border Patrol official resigned after allegedly pressuring female employees for sex, officials say,” by NBC’s Julia Ainsley

8. FED UP: “Fed Sets Course for Milder Interest-Rate Rise in February,” by WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Federal Reserve officials are preparing to slow interest-rate increases for the second straight meeting and debate how much higher to raise them after gaining more confidence inflation will ease further this year.”

9. THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS: “George Santos admits to dressing up as woman, but denies he was a ‘drag queen,’” by N.Y. Post’s Patrick Reilly: “‘No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,’ the embattled Republican congressman said, in his first public response since allegations that he performed as a drag queen named KITARA emerged last week.”

Ron DeSantisshook hands at Arrowhead Stadium ahead of Jacksonville’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Greg Steube was discharged from the hospital.

Donald TrumpmemorializedIneitha Lynette Hardaway (aka “Diamond”), as did Mike Lindell, who grew emotional as he remembered her as “one of God’s ‘handpicked leaders’ for ‘the battle between good and evil,’” per the Fayetteville Observer. (Trump also noted that the three-hour ceremony was much longer than the 15-20 minutes he expected.)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was reunited with her second-grade teacher, who came with a note her former student wrote 20+ years ago.

Aubrey Plaza shared a message that Joe Bidensent her after she was voted the “most famous person from Delaware.”

Eric Adams traveled to Philly to watch the NY Giants get trounced by the Eagles.

A D.C. townhouse linked to Sam Bankman-Friedis now listed for $3,289,000.

SPOTTED at Jake Levine’s birthday party hosted by girlfriend Jackie Alemany in the basement of Vagabond on Saturday night, which featured cake and lots of dancing: Kylie Atwood, Josh Dawsey, Matt Mowers and Cassie Spodak, Emilie Simons and Steven Bernitt, Jessica Dean, Alex Katz, Jeff Solnet, Catherine Valentine and Zack Cohen, Courtney Clawson, Daniel Hornung and Susannah Burrage, Ali Rubin, Aparna Shrivastava, Arlie Ziskend, Natasha Sarin and Alan He.

ENGAGED — Rosy Brummette, agriculture policy advisor to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Aaron Weber, agriculture legislative assistant for Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), got engaged yesterday on the rooftop of the National Corn Growers Association, where the two first met. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Dan Koh, deputy cabinet secretary at the White House and a Labor Department alum, and Amy Sennett, general counsel of software company Karat, on Friday welcomed John “Jack” Kwang Lim Koh, who came in at 8 lbs, 11.5 oz, and joins big sister Theodora. Pics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) … Commerce’s Francie Harris … Kendra Barkoff Lamy of SKDK … Reuters’ Jim Oliphant … Jack St. John … Dave Schnittger of Squire Patton Boggs … Dan Scandling of APCO Worldwide … Ado Machida … Josh Riley … Rebecca Wasserstein … POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt, Kevin Claridy and Jesse Shapiro … WaPo’s Julie Zauzmer Weil … Akin Gump’s Ken Gross … Brianna Ehley of FGS Global … AHIP’s Adam Beck … NBC’s Ashley Codianni … former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn … Josh Earnest … Buckley Carlson of Rep. Jim Banks’ (R-Ind.) office … former Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) ... Kevin Bohn … Heather Kennedy ... Ginny Simmons ... Cara Baldari ... Anna Sperling McAlvanah … American Cleaning Institute’s Corey Brooks Pace … Melissa Byrne … Rob Collins of Coign

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this newsletter misspelled the name of former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.