Top Biden adviser Anita Dunn to return to White House
Former top Biden aide Anita Dunn is returning to the White House, two sources familiar with the move tell CBS News.
Dunn, a longtime political operative who worked for the Obama White House, worked in a temporary role at the White House at the beginning of President Biden's term and was a top adviser during his presidential campaign.
Ian Sams, who worked on Kamala Harris' campaign as well as Hillary Clinton's, is also beginning a full-time communications job supporting the White House counsel's office in the next few weeks, according to a White House official. Sams has been working at the Health and Human Services Department. The Washington Post first reported the personnel moves.
Their arrival comes amid forecasts by pollsters and pundits that Republicans are likely to take the House majority in the midterm elections this year and launch what will likely be a slew of GOP-led investigations. The Post reported part of Dunn's role will include responding to potential GOP probes, which CBS News has not independently confirmed. But Dunn's four decades in presidential politics give her ample experience in weathering political storms.
Dunn rejoins the White House from the political consulting firm she cofounded, SKDK.
In the first months of the Biden White House, Dunn played a behind-the-scenes role as a special government employee, a type of position often criticized because it doesn't require filing a public financial disclosure like other presidential appointee posts. Dunn assumed a West Wing role focusing on implementing the president's agenda in his first months in office.
Dunn played a pivotal role in Mr. Biden's ultimately successful presidential campaign as one of his most trusted advisers, and she also co-chaired the Biden-Harris Transition Team.
During the Obama White House, she served as acting White House communications director, and close adviser to the president.
— CBS News' Arden Farhi, Kathryn Watson and Jenna Gibson contributed to this report.
