Steve Ricchetti, a longtime Democratic operative and lobbyist, is sitting down with House Oversight Committee investigators Wednesday.
He’s known as a member of former President Joe Biden’s inner circle who reportedly played a key role in downplaying concerns, both public and private, about the ex-commander-in-chief’s mental fitness for office.
Ricchetti also reportedly helped craft Biden’s historic letter announcing the end of his 2024 re-election bid that July, according to the New York Times.
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But long before that, Ricchetti graduated from Miami University in Ohio and got a Juris Doctor from Virginia’s George Mason University.
His first major role in electoral politics came when Ricchetti served as executive director for the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, from 1990 to 1992.
Ricchetti then worked for former President Bill Clinton as a congressional liaison from 1993 to 1996 and then again as White House deputy chief of staff for operations from 1998 to 2001.
During that second stint, he played a critical role in wrangling House Democrats during the GOP’s impeachment proceedings against Clinton.
In between and in later years, Ricchetti enjoyed a lucrative career as a lobbyist, even founding the lobbying firm Ricchetti Inc. with his brother in 2001.
His work with Biden began in 2012 when Ricchetti was appointed to be counselor to the vice president during the Obama administration – one of several ex-lobbyists appointed to that White House, despite former President Barack Obama’s vow not to hire K Street operatives. He was soon elevated to be Biden’s chief of staff in late 2013.
Ricchetti also chaired Biden’s 2020 campaign before playing a critical role in his administration, where he acted as part of a small "Politburo" of close advisors who helped control the White House, Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN host Jake Tapper wrote in their book "Original Sin."
"In terms of who was running the White House, it’s a small group of people that have been around," Thompson told the PBS program "Washington Week" earlier this year.
Several members of Ricchetti’s family also notably had roles in the Biden administration; two of his sons and his daughter worked for the Treasury, State Department, and in the White House, respectively.
At the time, the White House argued they got the jobs on their merits rather than their father’s closeness to Biden.
Ricchetti also reportedly played a key role in dismissing concerns about Biden’s mental health.
Two weeks after Biden’s disastrous debate against current President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported that Ricchetti got into a "shouting" argument with Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., after the latter called to express concerns about Biden’s political viability.
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U.K.-based outlet The Times reported that Ricchetti "sounded like a mob boss" in a conversation with actor George Clooney days before the Hollywood star and longtime Democratic donor penned an explosive op-ed calling for a new 2024 nominee in early July 2024.
And multiple outlets have reported that Ricchetti also denied any concerns about Biden’s mental acuity in an off-the-record conversation with an unnamed reporter at an unnamed outlet that almost ran a story shining a light on concerns about Biden’s mental health.
Ricchetti is the seventh ex-Biden aide to speak with investigators in House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s probe into whether White House officials covered up signs of Biden’s decline.