U.S. Transportation Chief and Foreign Policy Advisers Among Resignations After Capitol Violence

FILE PHOTO: Elaine Chao, United States Secretary of Transportation, speaks at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 (GES 2019) in The Hague, the Netherlands, June 4, 2019. REUTERS / Piroschka van de Wouw / File photo

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced her resignation Thursday, the first cabinet member to join a list of members of President Donald Trump’s administration leaving in protest of the assault on the United States Capitol. United by their supporters.

Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said the mob attack “has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot put aside.” He said his resignation will take effect on Monday.

With less than two weeks remaining in the Trump presidency, many attendees were already heading for the door, but the sudden exits suggested revulsion among some for their encouragement to the crowds of supporters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday in an ultimate attempt. useless to avoid the formal certification of electoral victory of Democrat Joe Biden.

Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, a leading figure in Trump’s China policy development, abruptly resigned on Wednesday, a senior administration official said.

Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, followed, a second senior official said.

Republican Trump’s promise on Thursday that there would be an “orderly transition” to the presidency from Democrat Joe Biden on January 20 was in part intended to prevent further resignations, but the second official told Reuters: “He’s not going to stop it.” .

The images filled television screens in the United States and around the world, forever marking Trump’s presidency.

Successor Help

Chao, secretary of labor and undersecretary of transportation to past Republican presidents, has led the department for four years. In an interview with Reuters on December 31, Chao had said that he planned to stay at work until January 20.

On Thursday, he went out of his way to say that “we will help my announced successor, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, take on the responsibility of running this wonderful department.”

Among those who were motivated to resign was Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff who resigned as a special envoy to Northern Ireland.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of my friends quit over the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said on CNBC.

John Costello, Deputy Under Secretary of the Commerce Department, announced his departure in a scorching tweet, writing: “Yesterday’s events were an unprecedented attack on the very core of our democracy, incited by a sitting president.”

More exits at the NSC are especially likely, one of the officials said. He coordinates US foreign policy and maintains close contacts with foreign governments, so the loss of key personnel could raise questions about national security as the new administration takes over.

Pottinger’s boss, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, has no plans to resign, the first official said. But sources familiar with the matter said O’Brien had considered resigning.

“A strong national security team is maintained in the State Department, the Defense Department, the Treasury, the intelligence community and the National Security Council,” the official said, adding that the team had been guarding against any foreign threat before Biden’s inauguration. .

The White House had no immediate comment.

Confirming Pottinger’s departure, O’Brien tweeted: “His work led to a great awakening in our country and around the world about the danger posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Isolated and angry

Trump has increasingly isolated himself in the White House, relying on a small group of staunch loyalists and attacking those who dare to cross him, including Vice President Mike Pence.

An administration official said that “national security officials who are loyal to their oath to the constitution will be on duty until inauguration day and then hand over power to the newly elected president.”

There have been no indications that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a close Trump ally, plans to resign. But he put the light of day between himself and Trump by condemning the mafia that invaded the Capitol as “criminals.”

Trump’s top cabinet secretaries – Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen – are not expected to resign, but other low-key cabinet members could still leave, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Former US diplomats said there were unlikely to be big exits at the State Department, where employees have long endured Trump’s accusations that they are part of a “deep state” seeking to thwart his policies.

“It would be very strange for people to self-immolate when they see a ship on the horizon,” said a former State Department official, on condition of anonymity.

First lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, also resigned Wednesday. Two sources told Reuters that White House social secretary Rickie Niceta also resigned, as did Sarah Matthews, the White House undersecretary of press.

Pottinger, a former Reuters and Wall Street Journal reporter who left journalism to join the US Marines after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, had served in the White House since the beginning of Trump’s presidency in 2017. .

The Trump administration has pursued hard-line policies towards China on issues ranging from trade to espionage to the coronavirus, with relations at their worst in decades.

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