Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Thursday, saying “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”
Mick Mulvaney joined a growing list of Trump administration officials who are leaving following the violent riot at the Capitol on Wednesday. The riot occurred after Trump addressed a massive rally in Washington fueled by the President’s repeated allegations that he lost the November election because of election fraud, which is not substantiated. A mob breached the Capitol building just as lawmakers were working to certify Electoral College votes in the election, sealing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday night to tell him that he was resigning. He served as acting White House chief of staff from January 2019 until March 2020. Before that, he was director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” Mick Mulvaney told CNBC, which was first to report the resignation. “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.”
Stephanie Grisham, the former White House communications director and press secretary and current chief of staff for First Lady Melania Trump, was among the first to announce her departure from the administration following Wednesday’s chaos. White House Deputy National Security adviser Matt Pottinger has also reportedly resigned.
Though the breach delayed Wednesday’s congressional process for hours, both Houses reconvened and affirmed Biden’s November win. Many Republican lawmakers did continue to object, however, pushing the same baseless conspiracies about vote fraud which led to Wednesday’s turmoil to begin with.
Following the vote, Trump gave his first public acknowledgement he would be leaving office, stating there would be an “orderly transition on January 20th.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
One comment
Sonja Fitch
January 7, 2021 at 10:01 am
Oh the yellow bellied coward! Sir you are just guilty as Trump! It is your sworn duty as American to be loyal to America! You were are a damn coward!
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