Several White House officials step down after violence
Several Trump administration officials have announced that they are resigning after amobof Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, temporarily disruptingcongress as it was certifying Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
The officials included those in prominent positions in the White House and staff members who have been working in the administration since the beginning of the president’s term in 2017. Some of the resignations came hours after President Donald Trump openly encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol to protest what he has falsely claimed was a stolen election.
The moves are being madewith less than two weeks remaining in Trump’s term.
Elaine Chao
Chao, the transportation secretary, announced her resignation on Twitter on Thursday, becoming the first Cabinet member to do so. The unrest at the Capitol, she wrote, “deeply troubled me in a
way that I simply cannot set aside.” Chao, whose resignation is effective Monday, is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY.
Betsy Devos
Devos, the education secretary, was the second Cabinet secretary to resign. In a letter Thursday, DeVos blamed Trump for inflaming tensions. She said that “there is no mistaking theimpactyourrhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”
Mick Mulvaney
Mulvaney, Trump’s former acting chief of staff, resigned as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Wednesday night, saying he “can’t stay” after watching the president encourage the mob that overtook the Capitol complex.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday morning, Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday night and told him, “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”
Mulvaney praised administration officials who defended Vice President Mike Pence, who oversaw the tallying of the votes that certified Biden’s victory despite pressure from Trump.
Mulvaney said he expected that there would be more resignations.
“Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mulvaney, who was named acting chiefof staff in 2018, wroteontwitter: “The President’s tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home.”
Matthew Pottinger
Pottinger has been Trump’s deputy national security adviser since 2019. Hewas formerly the administration’s Asia director on the National Security Council and was knownfor his on-the-groundexperience in China, where he advised Trump during his meeting with President Xi Jinping in 2017. Pottinger has resigned, a person familiar with the events said Thursday.
John Costello
Costello, one of the country’s most senior cybersecurity officials, resigned Wednesday, telling associates the violence on Capitol Hill was his “breaking point” and, he hoped, “a wake-up call.”
Tyler Goodspeed
Goodspeed, the acting chairmanof the Whitehousecouncil of Economic Advisers, resigned Thursday, citing Trump’s incitement of the mob.
“The events of yesterday made my position no longer tenable,” he said in an interview.
Stephanie Grisham
Grisham, the former White House press secretary who served as chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump, submitted her resignation Wednesday after the violence at the Capitol. She had worked for the Trumps since the 2016 campaign andwas one of their longestserving aides.
Rickie Niceta
Melania Trump chose Niceta, a former Washington event planner who helped coordinate Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations, as her social secretary in 2017. Niceta has said she was resigning, according to an administration official familiar with her plans who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Sarah Matthews
Matthews, a deputy White House press secretary, submitted her resignation Wednesday, saying in a statementthat shewas “deeply disturbed by what I saw today.”