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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.
[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
Betsy DeVos
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.
Transportation secretary
Elaine Chao
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.
Special envoy to Northern Ireland and former White House chief of staff
Mick Mulvaney
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.”
deputy national security adviser
Matthew Pottinger
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.
deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department
John Costello
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.”
White House Council of Economic Advisers acting chairman
Tyler Goodspeed
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.
First lady’s chief of staff
Stephanie Grisham
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.
social secretary
Rickie Niceta
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.
deputy White House press secretary
Sarah Matthews
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.”
Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services
Elinore F. McCance-Katz
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.”
assistant attorney general
Eric S. Dreiband
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.”
Additional national security officials
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.
Our Coverage of the Capitol Riot and its Fallout
The Events on Jan. 6
Timeline: On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump raided the U.S. Capitol. Here is a close look at how the attack unfolded.
A Day of Rage: Using thousands of videos and police radio communications, a New York Times investigation reconstructed in detail what happened — and why.
Lost Lives: A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people died in connection with the attack.
Jan. 6 Attendees: To many of those who attended the Trump rally but never breached the Capitol, Jan. 6 wasn’t a dark day for the nation. It was a new start.
The Federal Case Against Trump
The Indictment: Trump was indicted on Aug. 1 after a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election. Here is how the indictment was structured.
Trump’s Immunity Claim: The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The justices scheduled arguments for the week of April 22.
The Trial: In February, the federal judge in the case decided to delay the trial, which was set to start on March 4. In doing so, she acknowledged that time had run out to get the proceeding going, mostly because of the wrangling over Trump’s immunity claim.
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