Jill Biden’s chief of staff nominated for Spain ambassador
Jul 27, 2021, 1:03 AM | Updated: 4:13 pm
FILE - In this March 8, 2021 file photo, Julissa Reynoso, chief of staff to first lady Jill Biden, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Julissa Reynoso, the chief of staff to first lady Jill Biden and a former ambassador, to serve as his ambassador to Spain and Andorra.
Reynoso has also served as the co-chair of the White House Gender Policy Council, a role that has her advocating on behalf of women and girls in the U.S. and around the globe.
She is expected to remain in her current role until she is confirmed by the Senate. A successor has not been named, according to the first lady’s spokesman Michael LaRosa.
The first lady said when she met Reynoso in 2019 they “immediately clicked.”
“We stayed in touch, and I knew if we came to the White House, that I wanted her as my Chief of Staff,” Jill Biden said in a statement. “She’s been exceptional and an incredible leader and friend. Given her experience and her heart, I can think of no one better than Julissa to represent us in Spain and Andorra.”
Reynoso served as an ambassador to Uruguay and a senior State Department official during the Obama-Biden administration. She was already being considered for a top job at the State Department when the first lady recruited her to join her team.
During the early going of the administration, Reynoso has been by the first lady’s side as she traveled to more than 25 states and made two trips overseas. She’s also helped the first lady, who has served a key voice in the administration’s public push to urge Americans to get COVID-19 vaccinations, develop her messaging.
The West Wing has also leaned on Reynoso.
She was tapped by Biden to co-lead the Gender Policy Council. The council was started after Trump disbanded an office created during the Obama administration that was called the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Earlier this year, she was dispatched to serve as part of a White House delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border visiting a facility where unaccompanied migrant children were being temporarily housed. The visit came amid criticism over the Biden administration’s handling of a surge of young migrants coming to the border.
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