Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos QUITS over Capitol riot as calls to remove President using 25th amendment grow
EDUCATION Secretary Betsy DeVos has resigned over the Capitol riot, making her the second member of President Donald Trump's cabinet to quit.
DeVos submitted her resignation to Trump on Thursday night, reported, stating that the riot was an "inflection point" for her.
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In a letter to Trump obtained by , DeVos said she would depart on Friday and emphasized the need to set a good example for the younger generation.
“We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people,” DeVos wrote.
“Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protestors overrunning the US Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s business."
DeVos said that the behavior was "unconscionable" for the US and blamed Trump for his supporters' protest that was aimed at preventing Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden's win.
“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is an inflection point for me," DeVos wrote.
She added that “impressionable children are watching from all of this, and they are learning from us," and said that the country's leaders have a moral obligation to show good judgement to the youth.
“They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday," she wrote.
DeVos said she was quitting “in support of the oath I took to our Constitution, our people, and our freedoms.”
Earlier on Thursday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Mick Mulvaney, the special envoy to Northern Ireland, quit.
Chao, who is Republican Senator Mitch McConnell's wife, said in a letter on her resignation that "it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the U.S. Department of Transportation."
Her letter said of the riots: "As I'm sure is the case with many of you, it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside."
"Today, I am announcing my resignation as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to take effect on Monday, January 11, 2020," she wrote.
Chao's resignation came after Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff, resigned.
"I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning from that. I can’t do it. I can’t stay," he told on Thursday.
“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,” Mulvaney added.
Following the riots in on Wednesday afternoon, a wave of key White House staff stepped down, with more resignations rumored to come.
Stephanie Grisham, the current chief of staff for First Lady , submitted .
White House social secretary Anna Cristina "Rickie" Niceta also resigned Wednesday effective immediately, a White House official told .
White House press aide Sarah Matthews has also called it quits in response to the events.
also appeared to admit defeat as he promised an "orderly transition" of power after was .
After lawmakers were allowed back into the Capitol, a joint session of reconvened and an Electoral College count of and 232 for Trump was certified.
A statement was then released from the White House in which the president pledged an "orderly transition" on January 20.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” it read.
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“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.
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“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
A person familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump's statement was "designed in part to stanch a wave of resignations from the West Wing and broader administration," according to reporter .