DeVos & Chao quit over riots
Join wave of resignations
Two members of President Trump’s Cabinet — Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — announced on Thursday that they were resigning over Wednesday’s Capitol invasion.
Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), was the first Cabinet secretary to step down over the incursion, although her announcement came amid a stream of Trump-administration resignations following the mayhem at the Capitol.
“Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” Chao said. “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.”
She said her resignation would take effect on Monday.
DeVos (right) stepped down Thursday night, submitting to Trump a resignation letter in wwhich she called the rioters’ actions “unconscionable” and blamed him for contributing to the chaos.
Her resignation is effective on Friday, the letter said.
Also on Thursday, Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff and current special envoy to Northern Ireland, announced he was stepping down.
“I called [Secretary off State] Mike Pompeo last night too let him know I was resigning from that. I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” he told CNBC on Thursday.
“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.”
Several White House staffers — including First Lady Melania Trump’s Chief of Staff Stephanie Gr is ham and deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews — have said they would resign. White House social secretary Rickie Niceta and Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger reportedly quit Wednesday.
Other reported resignations were Ryan Tully, a senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council; John Costello, deputy secretary of Commerce; and Tyler Goodspeed, acting chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Mulvaney said the Capitol riot was a stain on Trump’s legacy.
“The folks who spent time away from our families, put our careers on the line to go work for Donald Trump, and we did have those successes to look back at, but now it will always be, ‘Oh, yeah, you work for the guy who tried to overtake thee government, ” hee ssaid.