WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is resigning effective Monday, becoming the highest-ranking member of President Donald Trump’s administration to resign in protest after the pro-Trump insurrection at Capitol.
In a statement Thursday, Chao, who is married to Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, said the violent attack on the Capitol “has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.”
She said her department will continue to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s designated nominee to head the department, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Other officials who have resigned include:
- Stephanie Grisham, first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff and a former White House press secretary
- Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger
- White House social secretary Rickie Niceta
- Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews
Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff-turned-special envoy to Northern Ireland told CNBC Thursday that he had called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to let him know I was resigning. … I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”
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