There have been more than a dozen resignations from the White House since Wednesday, when hundreds of violent pro-Trump protesters vandalized the corridors of Congress, threatened lawmakers and left five dead.
Most resigners explicitly blamed his departure for the president’s refusal to accept his electoral defeat and for inciting a crowd to march to the Capitol during the raucous “Save the America March” on Wednesday.
Those who abandoned the ship just two weeks before the official delivery on January 20 include two cabinet members – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transport Secretary Elaine Chao plus ex-cabinet member Mick Mulvaney.
Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Education
Formerly a staunch supporter of Trump, DeVos resigned on Thursday, citing the “unfair” riot that caused widespread destruction on Capitol Hill the day before.
“There is no doubt about the impact that his rhetoric has had on the situation, and it is the tipping point for me,” DeVos told Trump in his resignation, obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Elaine Chao
Transport Secretary
Chao was the first cabinet member to step down, making his announcement hours before DeVos on Thursday.
She is the wife of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), A longtime Trump supporter who separated from the president for his refusal to accept defeat in the elections.
“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,” Chao said in announcing that he will step down on January 11.
In this October 17, 2019 archive photo, acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, speaks in the White House meeting room in Washington. Investigators of the House’s impeachment asked Mulvaney to testify about his “first-hand knowledge” of President Donald Trump’s negotiations with Ukraine. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
Mick Mulvaney
US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland
Mulvaney, the former White House Chief of Staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget, resigned on Thursday from his last post as Northern Ireland envoy.
“I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to warn you that I was forgoing this. I can not do this. I can’t stay, “Mulvaney told CNBC in an interview on Thursday.
“Those who chose to stay, and I talked to some of them, are choosing to stay because they are concerned that the president might put someone worse,” said Mulvaney.
Matt Pottinger, senior director of the National Security Council for Asia, center, is in Singapore.
(Reuters / Mark Schiefelbein)
Matthew Pottinger
Deputy National Security Advisor
Matt Pottinger was among the first to step down, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday’s announcement.
Pottinger blamed Trump’s incitement on protesters, sources told Bloomberg.
His boss, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, also thought about leaving, but was convinced by allies to stay, the news service reported.
Hope Hicks attends President Trumps’ office meeting in the East Room of the White House on May 19 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, President Trump met with members of the Republican Party in the Senate. (Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Hope Hicks
Senior Advisor
Hicks, President Trump’s longtime press officer and senior aide, will leave the White House the week before Joe Biden took office on January 20.
Hicks told colleagues, however, that she already planned to resign and that her decision is not linked to the mutiny that claimed five lives, reports Bloomberg News.
Stephanie Grisham
Chief of Staff to First Lady Melania Trump
Grisham was also one of the first to resign, announcing his immediate departure on Wednesday.
Grisham started working for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015 and then served as deputy press secretary for the White House under Sean Spicer before the first lady hired her to join his team in 2017.
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Tyler Goodspeed
President-in-Office of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Goodspeed cited Capitol disturbances when he resigned on Thursday.
One of the president’s top advisers, Goodspeed left his chief of staff, Rachael Slobodien, confirmation of his resignation.
“Events at the US Capitol yesterday led Tyler to conclude that his position was untenable,” she said in a statement.
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Elinore McCance-Katz
Deputy Secretary of Mental Health
McCance-Katz resigned on Thursday night, explaining that he could no longer continue working for the Trump administration due to the “unacceptable” behavior of the protesters.
She called her decision “difficult” and did not explicitly mention Trump in her statement.
She, however, said: “I cannot support language that results in inciting violence and risking our own existence.”
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John Costello
Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Intelligence and Security
Costello announced his resignation on Thursday through your Twitter account.
“Yesterday’s events were an unprecedented attack on the core of our democracy – prompted by an incumbent president,” he said in the post. “The president long ago disrespected and lowered the rule of law and the constitution. Yesterday, it culminated in a violent rebellion against the United States Congress in order to overturn a legally recognized and valid election.”
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Ryan Tully
Adviser of Russia
Trump’s top adviser at the White House to Russia, Tully presented his resignation on Thursday, Reuters reported.
He resigned after the takeover of the Capitol on Wednesday by Trump supporters, a senior government source told the news agency.
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National Security Council members
In addition to the above resignations, at least six members of the National Security Council have resigned, according to DefenseNews.com.
“They include the senior director for Africa, Erin Walsh; the head of the NSC’s office for tracking weapons of mass destruction, Anthony Ruggiero; the top adviser for Europe and Russia, Ryan Tully, and Mark Vandroff, the senior director of the NSC for defense policy, “the reported take.
In addition, Rob Greenway, one of the president’s top consultants for the Middle East, was considering his own way out, the vehicle said.
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Sarah Matthews
Press Secretary
Matthews blamed his resignation on the Capitol riot.
“I was honored to serve in the Trump administration and proud of the policies we passed,” said Matthews in a statement.
“As someone who worked in the halls of Congress, I was deeply disturbed by what I saw today. I will resign from my post, with immediate effect. Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power,” said Matthews, ABC reported.
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Anna Cristina Niceta Lloyd
Social Secretary
Anna Cristina “Rickie” Niceta Lloyd resigned on Wednesday with immediate effect, CNN reported.
A longtime, bipartisan event planner in Washington, Niceta Lloyd was hired as Social Secretary of the White House in 2017.
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She oversaw such beloved events at the White House as the Easter Egg Roll and Halloween party, as well as state visits and galas.