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The Trump Administration Officials Who Resigned Over Capitol Violence

Several officials announced that they were stepping down after a mob of the president’s supporters disrupted the process of certifying the election results on Wednesday.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with Vice President Mike Pence last year.Credit...Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

[Follow our live news coverage on the protests at the Capitol and across the country.]

Several Trump administration officials have announced that they are resigning after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, temporarily disrupting Congress as it was certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Electoral College victory.

The officials included those in prominent positions in the White House, and staff members who have been working in the Trump administration since the beginning of the president’s term, in 2017. Some of the resignations came hours after President 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 made with less than two weeks remaining in Mr. Trump’s term.

Here is a list of the administration officials who have resigned.

Education secretary

Ms. DeVos, the education secretary, submitted a letter of resignation to President Trump on Thursday, saying she would step down on Friday.

In the letter, Ms. DeVos called the mob that disrupted Congress as it was certifying the election results on Wednesday “unconscionable for our country.”

“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” she wrote.

With her letter, Ms. DeVos became the second cabinet member to announce plans to resign after violent protesters overwhelmed the police and stormed through the Capitol.

A billionaire Republican donor, Ms. DeVos was confirmed as education secretary in February 2017 with a tiebreaking vote in the Senate from Vice President Mike Pence.

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Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao last year.Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

Transportation secretary

Ms. 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.” Ms. Chao, who is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said that her resignation would take effect on Monday.

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Mick Mulvaney resigned from his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Wednesday night.Credit...Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Special envoy to Northern Ireland and former White House chief of staff

Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. 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 Thursday morning, Mr. Mulvaney said he had called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday night and told him: “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”

Mr. Mulvaney praised administration officials who had defended Mr. Pence, who oversaw the tallying of the votes that certified Mr. Biden’s victory despite pressure from Mr. Trump. Mr. Mulvaney said he anticipated 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, Mr. Mulvaney, who was named acting chief of staff in 2018, wrote on Twitter: “The President’s tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home.”

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Matthew Pottinger had been Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser since 2019.Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

deputy national security adviser

Mr. Pottinger has been Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser since 2019. He was formerly the administration’s Asia director on the National Security Council, and was known for his on-the-ground experience in China, where he advised Mr. Trump during his meeting with President Xi Jinping in 2017. Mr. Pottinger has resigned, a person familiar with the events said on Thursday.

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John Costello, one of the country’s most senior cybersecurity officials, resigned Wednesday.Credit...Cyberspace Solarium Commission

deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department

Mr. Costello, one of the country’s most senior cybersecurity officials, resigned on Wednesday, telling associates that the violence on Capitol Hill was his “breaking point” and, he hoped, “a wake-up call.”

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Tyler Goodspeed, top row left, resigned on Thursday.Credit...Evan Vucci/Associated Press

White House Council of Economic Advisers acting chairman

Mr. Goodspeed, the acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, resigned on Thursday, citing Mr. Trump’s incitement of the mob that stormed the Capitol. “The events of yesterday made my position no longer tenable,” he said in an interview, after informing the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, of his decision.

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Stephanie Grisham, left, the chief of staff to Melania Trump, submitted her resignation on Wednesday. She is a former White House press secretary.Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times

First lady’s chief of staff

Ms. Grisham, the former White House press secretary who served as chief of staff to Melania Trump, the first lady, submitted her resignation on Wednesday after the violence at the Capitol. She had worked for the Trumps since the 2016 campaign and was one of their longest-serving aides.

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Rickie Niceta, left, social secretary to the first lady, with other members of Mrs. Trump’s team, resigned on Wednesday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

social secretary

Melania Trump chose Ms. Niceta, a former Washington event planner who helped coordinate Mr. Trump’s inaugural celebrations, as her social secretary in 2017. Ms. Niceta has said she was resigning, according to an administration official familiar with her plans who was not authorized to speak publicly.

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Sarah Matthews, deputy White House press secretary, resigned on Wednesday.Credit...Pool photo by Al Drago/EPA, via Shutterstock

deputy White House press secretary

Ms. Matthews, a deputy White House press secretary, submitted her resignation on Wednesday, saying in a statement that she was “deeply disturbed by what I saw today.”

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Elinore F. McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, announced her resignation on Thursday.Credit...Pool photo by Pete Marovich

Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. McCance-Katz, who served as assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse, announced her resignation on Thursday, citing the “violent takeover of the Capitol building.”

“I believe that this behavior was totally unacceptable and, in my own heart, I simply am not able to continue,” she said in a statement. “I believe that we are given certain life situations where we must make the difficult decisions and we get one chance to do it the right way.”

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Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, back row, third from right, announced he would resign effective Friday.Credit...Leah Millis/Reuters

assistant attorney general

Mr. Dreiband, who led the Justice Department’s civil rights division since 2018, announced he would resign effective Friday in a lengthy statement calling out “illegal bigotry” and “hate-motivated violence.”

“Our Constitution and civil rights laws embody the ideals that all persons have worth, and are entitled to equal justice, respect, decency, peace and safety,” Mr. Dreiband said. “It is the duty of government to secure these rights, and it is the duty of the civil rights division to protect all people in this nation against any violation of these rights, including hate-motivated violence, exploitation, unlawful discrimination and bigotry.”

On Friday, officials confirmed that five National Security Council officials had resigned over the past few days.

The officials were Rob Greenway, senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs; Anthony Ruggiero, senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense; Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs; Mark Vandroff, senior director for defense policy; and Erin Walsh, senior director for African affairs.

Reporting was contributed by Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni, Christine Hauser, Michael Crowley and Michael Levenson.

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