Washington – Eleven men who have held what is considered to be the toughest job in Washington – White House chief of staff – were to gather for lunch on Friday to welcome Reince Preibus, chief of staff to President-elect Donald Trump, to their ranks.
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President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, was hosting his successor at the gathering, along with former chiefs of staff from administrations dating back to the Jimmy Carter White House of 1977-1980.
The White House lunch is similar to one hosted in 2008 by Josh Bolten, then chief of staff to outgoing President George W. Bush, for Obama’s first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a White House official said.
Both Bolten and Emanuel will be at the lunch, joined by Obama’s three other former chiefs of staff – Jack Lew, Bill Daley and Pete Rouse – as well as Andrew Card, George W. Bush’s first chief of staff.
Jack Watson, who was chief of staff to Jimmy Carter, was invited, along with Kenneth Duberstein from the Ronald Reagan White House and Samuel Skinner from the George H.W. Bush administration.
Also invited: John Podesta, a chief of staff in the Bill Clinton White House who helped run Trump rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency.
If only I could be a fly on that wall.