U.S. transport, education secretaries quit in staff exodus after Capitol
violence
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[January 08, 2021]
By David Shepardson, Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Transportation
Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on
Thursday, joining a growing list of aides leaving President Donald
Trump's administration in protest at the storming of the U.S. Capitol by
his supporters.
Chao, the wife of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, said in an
email to staff that the mob attack "has deeply troubled me in a way that
I simply cannot set aside." She said her resignation will take effect on
Monday.
In a letter to Trump, DeVos said the attack on the Capitol was
unconscionable. "There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on
the situation, and it is the inflection point for me," she wrote, adding
her resignation would be effective on Friday.
With less than two weeks left of Trump's presidency, many aides were
already heading for the door, making some of their resignations symbolic
gestures.
But the sudden exodus suggested revulsion among some over Trump's
encouragement of supporters who brought violent chaos to the Capitol on
Wednesday in an ultimately futile bid to prevent formal certification of
Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.
The growing departures of key U.S. national security staffers could also
deprive Trump of critical advice in the event of an international crisis
in his final days in office.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
the latest resignations.
Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, a leading aide on
Trump's China policy, quit abruptly on Wednesday, said a senior
administration official.
He was followed on Thursday by at least five senior directors at the
White House National Security Council responsible for advising Trump on
Russia, the Middle East, Africa, defense policy and weapons of mass
destruction, according to a senior administration official and a person
familiar with the matter.
Tyler Goodspeed, acting chair of the White House Council of Economic
Advisers, also stepped down, a source familiar with the situation said.
Trump's pledge on Thursday of an "orderly transition" on Jan. 20 was
partly intended to head off further resignations, but one senior
official told Reuters: "It's not going to stop it."
HELP FOR SUCCESSOR
Chao, a labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary under
previous Republican presidents, has led the department for four years.
In an interview with Reuters on Dec. 31, Chao had said she planned to
remain through Jan. 20.
On Thursday, she said "we will help my announced successor, Mayor Pete
Buttigieg, with taking on the responsibility of running this wonderful
department."
Chao made the announcement a day after McConnell condemned the violence
and the effort by some Republican lawmakers to block certification of
Biden's victory. Trump has sought unsuccessfully to overturn the results
with unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff, said he had resigned
as special envoy to Northern Ireland.
John Costello, deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department,
announced his departure in a blistering tweet, writing, "yesterday's
events were an unprecedented attack on the very core of our democracy -
incited by a sitting president."
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U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos listens during a coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) pandemic response event about reopening schools
hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in
Washington, U.S., August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The resignations of senior NSC directors, the sources said,
included: Ryan Tully, European and Russian affairs; Erin Walsh,
African affairs; Mark Vandroff, defense policy; Anthony Rugierro,
weapons of mass destruction; and Rob Greenway, Middle Eastern and
North African affairs. Greenway’s departure had already been in the
works, one of the sources said.
Pottinger’s boss, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, had no
plans to quit the NSC, which is responsible for coordinating U.S.
foreign policy, the first official said. But sources familiar with
the matter said O'Brien had seriously considered resigning.
Shortly after Trump appeared to finally acknowledge that Biden would
take office, the White House on Thursday asked its more than 4,000
political appointees to submit letters of resignation by Jan. 20.
A White House official called it part of the normal transition
process, but such a request usually goes out weeks before a transfer
of power and was apparently held up by Trump's refusal to concede
defeat.
ISOLATED AND ANGRY
Trump has increasingly isolated himself inside the White House,
relying on a small group of diehard loyalists and lashing out at
those who dare to cross him.
An administration official insisted that "national security
officials who are loyal to their oath to the Constitution will be
standing watch until Inauguration Day and will then turn over power
to the duly elected new president."
Trump's top four cabinet members – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Acting Defense Secretary
Christopher Miller and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen - were
not expected to quit, but lower-profile cabinet secretaries could
still leave, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A State Department adviser on Iran, Gabriel Noronha, was fired after
tweeting that Trump was "entirely unfit to remain in office."
First lady Melania Trump's chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, also
resigned on Wednesday. Two sources told Reuters that White House
social secretary Rickie Niceta also quit, as did Sarah Matthews, a
deputy White House press secretary.
Pottinger, a former Reuters and Wall Street Journal reporter who
left journalism to join the U.S. Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks
on the United States in 2001, had served in the White House since
Trump took office.
Trump has pursued hardline policies towards China on issues ranging
from trade to espionage and the coronavirus, with relations at their
worst level in decades.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick and David Shepardson in
Washington, Steve Stecklow in London; additional reporting by Andrea
Shalal, Mark Hosenball, David Brunnstrom, Humeyra Pamuk, Andrea
Shalal, Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Alistair Bell, Howard Goller and
Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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