U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Thursday she would resign, citing the invasion of the U.S. Capitol by violent supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, becoming the first cabinet member to do so.
Conway G.
Gittens reports.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Thursday became the first cabinet member in the White House to resign, one-day after President Trump incited a violent attack against Capitol Hill.
Chao, a long-time Republican insider, is also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who like all lawmakers had to run for safety as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building.
In a resignation email to her staff, Chao said Wednesday's attack deeply troubled her "in a way that I simply cannot set aside." Her resignation is effective Monday.
Some Washington insiders expect Chao to be the first in a line of resignations in protest to the tactics President Trump has used to try to overturn his loss to President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump is largely blamed for whipping up a frenzy in a speech Wednesday to thousands of supporters, repeating a debunked claim that the election was stolen from him and urging them to march to the Capitol.
Protesters immediately headed to Capitol Hill, bursting through barricades, smashing windows and clashing with police.
Trump has not condemned the unprecedented violence but pledged on Thursday to have an "orderly transition." But for some Washington insiders like Secretary Chao that pledge pales in comparison to the assault on democracy they say took place the day before.
