S president elect Joe Biden appointed top Democratic official Ron Clain as his chief of staff on Wednesday.

Claim is one of Biden's closest confidants and first worked for him in 1989 back when Biden was a U.

S senator.

Claim was also in charge of the Obama administration's response to the Ebola health crisis in 2014 during Biden's time as vice president.

A fierce critic of Republican President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic claim is expected to be a key figure in the Biden administration's response.

In a statement, Biden said quote, Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014.

Claim, for his part in a Wednesday statement called his appointment the honor of a lifetime.