"You're literally at the border of where the President's privacy and public duties sit - you have to have the right touch and right skill set," Steve Ricchetti, the longtime Biden aide and confidant who serves as counselor to the President, told CNN. That group came to view Goepfert as a central piece of Biden's day-to-day life, and a trusted and loyal adviser in his own right. The span of Biden's career brought with it a group of long-tenured - and fiercely loyal - senior advisers, many of whom joined him inside the West Wing. "It's a tough and grueling job, and no one has done it with the competence, kindness, and warmth that he has." "I have worked with and seen many body people over the years, Stephen is at the top," White House chief of staff Ron Klain said. It sits squarely at the nexus of the president's public and private lives and brings with it the demand for physical presence at nearly all times, whether at the White House, foreign trips or - in Goepfert's case - Biden's regular travel to his Delaware homes on the weekend. The role itself is all-consuming in any White House. Goepfert will be succeeded by Jacob Spreyer, who currently serves as the official White House receptionist. While he may not be a household name, Goepfert is hard to miss - he's the one with the beard in just about every Biden photo that includes staff, showing up on television to place remarks on the podium before a major Biden address or quietly emerging to slip Biden a note during a public event. The first White House staffer Biden sees most mornings, and the last he sees nearly every night, Goepfert's tenure as Biden's "bodyman" was marked by a keen understanding of the cadence and details, both big and small, that drive a man who has been a public official for more than four decades, according to senior advisers. Jill and I will miss Stephen, but we're proud that he will continue to serve the American people in his new role in the Biden-Harris administration as he continues his career in public service." "In moments big, small, and extraordinary, he's been a trusted and loyal confidant who everyone counts on and who always delivers. "From the campaign to the White House, Stephen Goepfert has been by my side," Biden said in a statement. Goepfert, Biden's personal aide, is set to leave the White House for a role at the Transportation Department, marking the departure of a key cog on Biden's team who has been by the President's side at every major moment since the first months of his 2020 presidential campaign. That will change at the end of this week. (CNN) - Inside President Joe Biden's tight-knit inner circle, few - if any - White House aides have spent more time by his side in the last three years than Stephen Goepfert.
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