United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attends the event “Bringing America’s Children Back to School Safely” in the White House State Room in Washington, DC, on August 12, 2020.
NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday night, blaming President Donald Trump for the rhetoric that fueled the “unscrupulous” invasion of the United States Capitol by a crowd of his supporters.
DeVos is the second member of Trump’s cabinet to step down because of the riot on Wednesday, which flooded the corridors of Congress, delaying confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
On Thursday, Transport Secretary Elaine Chao said she would resign. Several other Trump administration officials have also resigned since Wednesday because of the riot.
In a letter to Trump, who said she would step down on Friday, DeVos listed what she said were the successes she and Trump had in education policy.
“We must highlight and celebrate the many accomplishments of his government on behalf of the American people,” wrote DeVos.
“Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protesters who invaded the US Capitol in an attempt to undermine people’s business,” she wrote.
“This behavior was unfair to our country,” wrote DeVos. “There is no doubt about the impact that his rhetoric has had on the situation, and it is a turning point for me.”
On Wednesday, Trump spoke to a crowd of supporters outside the White House. During the comments that lasted more than an hour, the president recycled false claims of winning the election and repeated claims, which are not supported by evidence, that Biden was declared the winner as a result of electoral fraud.
Trump also said, “We will have to fight much harder” and urged supporters to march to the Capitol, where Congress was starting the vote counting process.
The crowd soon turned into a mob that swarmed wildly through the corridors of Congress, scaring lawmakers and officials who sought refuge where they could. Four people died in the chaos.
DeVos noted that “impressionable children are watching all of this and learning from us”.
“I believe that each of us has a moral obligation to exercise good [judgment] and model the behavior we expect them to emulate, “wrote DeVos.
“They must know from us that America is bigger than what happened yesterday.”
She said she was resigning “in support of the oath I took on our Constitution, our people and our freedoms”.
In his own resignation announcement, Chao said, “Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and totally preventable event when supporters of the president broke into the Capitol building after a rally he led.”
“As I am sure that is the case for many of you, it has deeply disturbed me in a way that I simply cannot ignore,” said Chao.
Chao is the wife of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Who has refused to endorse Trump’s efforts to have Congress block Biden’s confirmation as the winner of the presidential vote at the Electoral College.
Other officers who resigned as a result of the rebellion included Tyler Goodspeed, acting chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, who once served as his chief of staff. cabinet.