John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American
political consultant who has served as
Senior Advisor to President
Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as
White House Chief of Staff to
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001 and
Counselor
Counselor or counsellor may refer to:
A professional In diplomacy and government
* Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability
* Counselor (dipl ...
to President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
from 2014 to 2015. Before that, he served in the
Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over ...
as
White House Staff Secretary
The Staff Secretary ("Staff Sec") is a position in the White House Office responsible for managing paper flow to the President and circulating documents among senior staff for comment. It has been referred to as "the nerve center of the White ...
from 1993 to 1995 and
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations from 1997 to 1998.
He is the former president, and now Chair and Counselor, of the
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive officer ...
(CAP), a
think tank in Washington, D.C., as well as a Visiting Professor of Law at the
Georgetown University Law Center and was chairman of
Hillary Clinton’s
2016 presidential campaign
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kiri ...
. Additionally, he was a co-chairman of the
Obama-Biden Transition Project.
In his current role as senior advisor to President Biden, Podesta oversees the disbursement of $370 billion in clean energy tax credits and incentives authorized by the
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a landmark United States federal law which aims to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing into domestic energy production while promoting clean ener ...
.
Early life
Podesta spent most of his early years in Chicago, where he was born, growing up in the neighborhood of
Jefferson Park on the city's
Northwest Side. His mother, Mary (née Kokoris), was
Greek-American, and his father, John David Podesta Sr., was
Italian-American.
Tony Podesta
Anthony Thomas Podesta (born October 24, 1943) is an American lobbyist best known for founding the Podesta Group. The brother of former White House Chief of staff John Podesta, he was formerly one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists and fundra ...
, a lobbyist, is his brother. Podesta's father did not graduate from high school, but encouraged his children to attend college.
In 1967, Podesta graduated from
Lane Tech High School
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
in Chicago. Podesta met Bill Clinton in 1970 when they worked in Connecticut for
Joseph Duffey, a candidate for the United States Senate. In 1971, he graduated from
Knox College in
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistic ...
, where he had served as a volunteer for the presidential candidacy of
Eugene McCarthy.
[ He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.
Podesta worked as a trial attorney for the ]Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
's Honors Program in the Land and Natural Resources Division (1976–77), and as a Special Assistant to the Director of ACTION
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
, the Federal volunteer agency (1978–79). His political career began in 1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
, when he worked for George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 p ...
's unsuccessful presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
* President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
.
Career
Podesta held positions on Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
, including Counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas Daschle (1995–96); Chief Counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee (1987–88); Chief Minority Counsel for the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and Counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee (1979–81). In 1988, he and his brother Tony co-founded Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C., "government relations and public affairs" lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
firm. Now known as the Podesta Group, the firm "has close ties to the Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
* Botswana Democratic Party
* Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*De ...
and the Obama administration ndhas been retained by some of the biggest corporations in the country, including Wal-Mart, BP and Lockheed Martin."
Clinton years
Podesta served as both an Assistant to the President and as Deputy Chief of Staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy. Podesta was the first White House staffer to get the news of the Lewinsky scandal and was put in charge of managing the crisis. In 1998, he became President Clinton's Chief of Staff in the second Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over ...
and served in the position until the end of Clinton's time in office in January 2001. Podesta encouraged Executive Order 12958
Executive Order 12958 created new standards for the process of identifying and protecting classified information, and led to an unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from the U.S. diplomatic and national security history. In 1995, Un ...
, which led to efforts to declassify millions of pages from the U.S. diplomatic and national security history.
Recent years
In 2003, Podesta founded the Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive officer ...
, a liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and ...
think tank in Washington, D.C., and served as its president and CEO until he stepped down in 2011. (CAP chief operating officer Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official who has been a senior advisor and staff secretary to President Joe Biden since 2021. Tanden previously served as president of the Center for Ame ...
succeeded Podesta as president and CEO, taking over day-to-day operations.) Podesta remained chairman of the nonexecutive board of directors for a time, and remains on the board as of August 2020, although not as chairman.
Podesta has taught at his alma mater, Georgetown University Law Center, many times over the years, teaching classes on congressional
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
investigations, law and technology, legislation, copyright and public-interest law.[Our Faculty: John Podesta, Distinguished Visitor from Practice](_blank)
Georgetown University Law Center, August 5, 2016. On the Georgetown faculty, Podesta's title is Distinguished Visitor from Practice.
From 2002 to 2014, Podesta served as a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee. In 2008, he authored ''The Power of Progress: How America's Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and Our Country''. In 2009, he accompanied Bill Clinton to North Korea for negotiations securing the release of two American journalists imprisoned on espionage charges. He can be seen in numerous widely circulated photographs of Clinton meeting with Kim Jong-il.
Podesta opposes the excessive use of classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood.
Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes.
It may also refer to:
Business, organizat ...
, and in a 2004 speech at Princeton University condemned what he called the U.S.'s "excessive government secrecy" and "bloated secrecy bureaucracy".[John Podesta 2004 Remarks at Princeton University](_blank)
Center for American Progress, March 10, 2004.
Podesta has called Executive Order 12958
Executive Order 12958 created new standards for the process of identifying and protecting classified information, and led to an unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from the U.S. diplomatic and national security history. In 1995, Un ...
, "which set tough standards for classifying documents and led to the unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from our nation's diplomatic and national security history," as "perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the Clinton administration." More than 800 million pages of intelligence documents were declassified as part of the program.
Podesta is described as "a longtime advocate for government disclosure
Disclosure may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Disclosure'' (The Gathering album), 2012
*Disclosure (band), a UK-based garage/electronic duo
* ''Disclosure'' (novel), 1994 novel written by Michael Crichton
** ''Disclosure'' (1994 film), an American ...
of UFO files." Podesta has supported petitions by some who believe UFOs are alien spacecraft to the government to release files related to the subject. At a 2002 news conference organized by Coalition for Freedom of Information Podesta stated that, "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon."
Podesta wrote the foreword for a book by Leslie Kean Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist and author who is most notable for books about UFOs and the afterlife.
Background
In the late nineteen-nineties, after a visit to Burma to interview political prisoners, she stumbled into a career in inves ...
titled "UFOs- Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record". The book details numerous contact events by these trained personnel.
Podesta became an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society
The University Philosophical Society (UPS; ), commonly known as The Phil, is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1683 it is the oldest student, collegial and paper-reading society in ...
in March 2006. Podesta is an emeritus member of the Knox College Board of Trustees.
Podesta has served on the board of directors of Bedford, Massachusetts
Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,383 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.
History
''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information ...
-based energy company Joule Unlimited since January 2011. He has also served on the board of the Portland, Oregon-based Equilibrium Capital. In 2013, Podesta earned $90,000 as a consultant to the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based HJW Foundation, a nonprofit group led by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. He was the U.S. representative to the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium Development Goals. The new framework, starting from 2016 is called Sustai ...
.
After the 2016 election, Podesta joined '' The Washington Post'' as a columnist. Podesta also sits on the steering committee of the China–United States Exchange Foundation
The China–United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) is a Hong Kong-based nonprofit organization whose stated aim is to encourage dialogue and exchanges between the people of the United States and China. CUSEF was founded in 2008 by Tung Chee-hw ...
.
On September 2, 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Podesta as senior advisor to the president
Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993.
Res ...
for clean energy innovation and implementation. In this role, Podesta will oversee the $370 billion climate investment authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a landmark United States federal law which aims to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing into domestic energy production while promoting clean ener ...
, which was passed the previous month.
Personal email leak
On October 7, 2016, WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
started to publish thousands of emails reportedly retrieved from Podesta's private Gmail account, some of which contained controversial material regarding Clinton's positions or campaign strategy. Podesta and the Clinton campaign did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the emails. Experts investigating the leak, including a private security firm called Secureworks, claimed that a Russian hacking group named Fancy Bear gained access to Podesta's account through phishing. Podesta said that Russian intelligence officials attempting to influence the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump were behind the leak.[
The ]United States Intelligence Community
United may refer to:
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* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
released a statement directly accusing Russian intelligence of involvement. Vice President Joe Biden told NBC News that the United States was "sending a message" to Russian President Vladimir Putin and that a wide-ranging "clandestine" cyber operation would take place in response to the Russians' activities.
When asked about the leaks, Putin replied that claims of Russian involvement were false. "The hysteria is merely caused by the fact that somebody needs to divert the attention of the American people from the essence of what was exposed by the hackers."
Personal life
John Podesta is Catholic and has worked with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United.
He and his wife Mary Podesta, a Washington, D.C. attorney, married in 1978 and have three children. His daughter, Megan Rouse, is the president of the Dublin Unified School District (CA) Board of Trustees. Podesta is an avid cook.
See also
* Podesta Group
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
Founder and Chair
of the Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive officer ...
Faculty profile
at Georgetown Law School
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and t ...
Profile
at the U.S. Department of State
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Podesta, John
1949 births
American legal scholars
American political consultants
American people of Greek descent
American politicians of Italian descent
American Roman Catholics
Center for American Progress people
Clinton administration personnel
Counselors to the President
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Georgetown University Law Center faculty
Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign
Illinois Democrats
Knox College (Illinois) alumni
Lawyers from Chicago
Living people
Obama administration personnel
People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election
Politicians from Chicago
Political campaign staff
White House Chiefs of Staff
White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff
White House Staff Secretaries
Clinton administration cabinet members