Chief Legal Officer, Airbnb
Former Biden Chief Of Staff Ron Klain Reveals Warning Hillary Clinton Gave Him About Biden
During a House Oversight Committee hearing in July, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain was asked about President ...
About Ronald Klain
Ron Klain, the chief legal officer at Airbnb, appeared on the Photon Podcast in April 2026. He discussed his career transition, stating that he was contacted by a former client who was retiring as general counsel of Airbnb and asked if he wanted to be considered for the role, which he accepted. Klain described his leadership style as inclusive and focused on listening and learning, and said that success for him involves spending time with his family. Klain also commented on past events. He described the 2000 presidential election in Florida as very close, with an initial tally separating the candidates by about 500 votes out of 12 million cast, and noted irregularities in various counties. Regarding the early response to the COVID-19 epidemic, Klain said it was not particularly effective and stated that data appears to show the disease started in China but came to the United States from Europe.
Transcript (87 segments)
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Interviewer0:08
Can we go up? Can we go up?
Mr. Flyn, I'm going to ask a broad question that's yes or no right now, and then we can dive into details if there are any yeses. And it's between 2019 and present, have you had any communications, meaning in person, calls, texts, anything with the following list of people regarding President Biden's ability to be president of the United States? I'm cutting out health and age because I'm sure like we've run into that. Yeah, well, we talked about a cough drop or something. So, ability to be president of the United States. First lady Biden?
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Ronald Klain0:51
No.
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Interviewer0:53
Hunter Biden?
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Ronald Klain0:55
No.
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Interviewer0:56
Ashley Biden?
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Ronald Klain0:57
No.
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Interviewer0:59
Naomi Biden?
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Ronald Klain1:00
Not to recall, no.
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Interviewer1:02
Valerie Biden Owens?
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Ronald Klain1:03
Not to recall, no.
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Interviewer1:05
Vice President Harris?
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Ronald Klain1:06
No.
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Interviewer1:07
Second gentleman Emhoff?
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Ronald Klain1:09
Not to recall. No.
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Interviewer1:10
President Obama?
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Ronald Klain1:12
No.
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Interviewer1:13
President Clinton?
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Ronald Klain1:14
No.
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Interviewer1:15
Secretary Clinton?
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Ronald Klain1:17
Yes.
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Interviewer1:19
Mr. Z?
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Ronald Klain1:25
No.
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Interviewer1:28
Mr. Rahm Emanuel?
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Ronald Klain1:30
Yes.
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Interviewer1:31
Mr. Bill Daley?
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Ronald Klain1:33
No.
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Interviewer1:34
Mr. Jake Sullivan?
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Ronald Klain1:36
Yes.
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Interviewer1:38
Miss Anita Dunn?
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Ronald Klain1:40
No.
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Interviewer1:42
Mr. Mike Donilon?
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Ronald Klain1:43
Not to recall. No.
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Interviewer1:45
Mr. Bruce Reed?
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Ronald Klain1:46
Not to recall. No.
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Interviewer1:48
Mr. Steve Shetty?
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Ronald Klain1:51
I would have discussed with Steve the political fallout of the debate, but Steve did not express to me the view that he thought the president was incapable of being president.
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Interviewer2:01
Miss Ali Dylan?
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Ronald Klain2:04
Same answer for Miss Ali Dylan.
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Interviewer2:06
Mr. Bernal?
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Ronald Klain2:08
No, not that I recall.
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Interviewer2:09
Miss Thomasini?
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Ronald Klain2:10
No, not that I recall.
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Interviewer2:12
Miss Tanden?
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Ronald Klain2:14
Same answer I gave for Mr. Shetty and Miss Ali Dylan.
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Interviewer2:17
Miss Ashley Williams?
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Ronald Klain2:20
No.
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Interviewer2:21
Dr. O'Connor?
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Ronald Klain2:23
No.
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Interviewer2:25
Miss Bettingfield?
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Ronald Klain2:26
Not that I recall. No.
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Interviewer2:28
Miss Saki?
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Ronald Klain2:31
Same answer I gave previously. We discussed with Jen the political ramifications of the debate, but not a view by herself or myself that the president was incapable of governing.
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Interviewer2:42
Mr. David Axelrod?
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Ronald Klain2:44
Similar answer. I had a spicy conversation with Mr. Axe right after he was quoted in the New York Times saying the president should step aside.
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Interviewer2:53
Miss Jean-Pierre?
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Ronald Klain2:56
Not that I recall. No.
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Interviewer2:58
Speaker Emerita Pelosi?
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Ronald Klain2:59
No.
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Interviewer3:01
Senator Schumer?
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Ronald Klain3:02
No.
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Interviewer3:04
Leader Jeffries?
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Ronald Klain3:05
No.
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Interviewer3:07
I think I've asked this a thousand different ways, but any other sitting senator?
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Ronald Klain3:12
No.
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Interviewer3:13
Any other sitting member of Congress other than the ones we've already discussed?
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Ronald Klain3:16
None beyond ones we've already discussed.
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Interviewer3:18
And then what about any member of the cabinet?
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Ronald Klain3:20
No.
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Interviewer3:22
You said yes to Secretary Clinton. What were the nature of those conversations?
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Ronald Klain3:27
Secretary Clinton was present at this event I did in Aspen where a number of people were saying that President Biden should step aside. Afterwards, she took me aside for a conversation and said, 'Look, he's got a big political problem. You need to find a better way to address this than you did.' I said I understand. She did not say to me she thought the president was incapable of governing. It was all about politics. But she said that the sentiment in the room was a common sentiment among donors at least and among politically influential people, and the Biden committee was doing an inadequate job of addressing it.
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Interviewer4:04
And again, if I mischaracterize your testimony today, that sounds similar to how you felt at the time, that it was a political problem, not a governing problem.
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Ronald Klain4:12
Yes.
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Interviewer4:14
You said yes to Mr. Emanuel. What were the nature of those conversations?
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Ronald Klain4:20
One of the people who was most outspoken in that Aspen meeting about the president's age was his brother, Ari, who had been President Trump's agent. Ari had heckled me essentially from the stage, so I called Rahm to say, 'What's going on with your brother?' and he said, 'Well, you know, Ari just thinks Biden should step aside.'
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Interviewer4:39
Do you think Mr. Emanuel's running for president in 2028?
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Ronald Klain4:43
I don't think so in the end. I think he will head fake a lot, but I don't think in the end Ron will run.
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Interviewer4:49
You said yes to Jake Sullivan. What were the nature of those conversations?
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Ronald Klain4:55
In the summer of 2024, after the debate, the NATO summit was here in Washington, and there was public reporting that the president's performance at the NATO summit had been uneven. So I called Jake to ask him if that was true or not. Jake said the meeting had been a difficult one, that the allies weren't all aligned, and that the president had sometimes been effective, sometimes ineffective in getting them in line, but in the end, the president had gotten the job done. The allies had agreed on a plan for going forward on Ukraine. They had agreed to make more of a contribution if the US pulled back, and it ended well.
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Interviewer5:27
And the meeting was a tough one because people disagreed, not necessarily... or was there further discussion regarding President Biden's ability to conduct that meeting?
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Ronald Klain5:36
We discussed Jake's view that the president had not been as effective in getting the allies to agree as he had been in the past. Part of that, I think, was just the allies were tired of the war and tired of the expense, and were concerned that President Trump was going to get reelected and would have a more contentious relationship with NATO, and they were pressing the president quite hard on that.
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Interviewer5:59
Did Mr. Sullivan express to you that the lack of effectiveness from the president in that meeting had anything to do with the president's ability to conduct his job?
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Ronald Klain6:11
No, he did not raise any concern with the president's ability to govern. He did raise the concern that he thought it would be hard for the president to get reelected.
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Interviewer6:20
Can you explain that a little bit more? That if the president wasn't more able to fluidly handle these allies, did he have the political skills to succeed in a campaign that was already in trouble at that point in time?
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Ronald Klain6:35
When the invasion first happened in 2022, the president was able to handle the allies very successfully. He got them aligned on a sanctions package very quickly, which people thought would take months to do and only took days, and got them aligned on a plan to deliver aid to the Ukrainians in Poland. And then in the summer of '24, Mr. Sullivan's view was that he didn't think the president could win reelection, or he didn't think the president had been as effective as he had been in the past, and said it would be hard for him to win reelection this way because he was now less effective than he was in 2022.
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Interviewer7:18
Apparently, yes.
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Ronald Klain7:18
Okay.