(CNBC) President Joe Biden’s closest advisors have ties to big business and Wall Street, with some making millions of dollars in their careers leading up to entering the White House, new financial disclosures show.
The senior Biden aides listed in the disclosures include chief of staff Ron Klain, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, senior advisor Mike Donilon, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients, and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.
These disclosures show that many of the president’s closest aides have deep ties to the business world and have made more money in their past corporate careers than previously known.
These disclosures were provided by the White House to CNBC early Saturday morning after requesting the documents a day earlier…
Deese was previously the Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock before becoming the head of the National Economic Council. While at the investment firm, Deese’s disclosure shows he made over $2.3 million in salary and bonuses.
O’Malley Dillon, who ran Biden’s campaign before following him to the White House, was a co-founder of the consulting firm Precision Strategies. The founders of the firm are credited with helping reelect Obama in 2012.
O’Malley Dillon’s new financial disclosure gives a glimpse into the corporate advisory work she did for the firm before coming to the White House. The filing lists Gates Ventures as a client of O’Malley Dillon’s while she was 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.
