President agrees to step aside as loyalists start heading for the exits.
President Trump’s incitement of Wednesday’s mob attack on the U.S. Capitol has sparked the departure of several loyalists who had stuck with him through controversy and scandal.
Education Secretary Betsy Devos submitted her resignation Thursday, citing the president’s role in the riot on Capitol Hill.
“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” she wrote in a letter to President Trump. She said her resignation is effective Friday. Devos becomes the second Trump cabinet member to resign.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who served the entire four years of Trump’s presidency, announced her intention to resign, effective on Monday. Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., became the first Cabinet secretary to leave over the insurrection.
In an email to the department staff, Chao wrote, “Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed. As I’m sure is the case with many of you, it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.”
On Thursday morning, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff who has been serving as a special envoy for Northern Ireland, said he was departing.
“I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” he told CNBC.
Five top officials at the Federal Aviation Administration submitted their resignations Thursday, effective Monday evening.
FAA chief of staff Angela Stubblefield said, “Like all of us, they are outraged by the brazen and violent attack on one of the sacred institutions of American democracy.”
Among those stepping down: Arjun Garg, chief counsel and current acting deputy FAA Administrator; Brianna Manzelli, assistant administrator for communications; Kirk Shaffer, assistant administrator for airports; Bailey Edwards, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment; and Andrew Giacini, acting administrator for legislative affairs
On Wednesday after the riot, Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff for first lady Melania Trump, and Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary, quit their jobs.
John Costello, Commerce Department deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and security, announced his resignation Thursday and harshly criticized Trump.
Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security advisor, also resigned, Bloomberg reported.
So did Ryan Tully, another member of the National Security Council who worked on issues involving Europe and Russia.