Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Resigns from Trump Administration in Protest

© (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2019 file photo Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao speaks at EPA headquarters in Washington. 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.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao submitted her resignation from the Trump administration Thursday – the first of his Cabinet secretaries to do so after mobs of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building as Congress was formally recognizing Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race.

“Today, I am announcing my resignation as U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to take effect on Monday, January 11, 2020,” she said in a statement posted to social media Thursday afternoon.

“Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” she said. “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.”

Chao, who has been critical of the president in the past, is married to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Her resignation follows other, less senior White House officials who have also resigned in the wake of Wednesday events, including Mick Mulvaney, special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland and former Trump chief of staff; Sarah Matthews, the White House deputy press secretary; Matthew Pottinger, deputy national secretary adviser; Tyler Godspeed, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers; Anna Cristina Niceta, White House social secretary; Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff for first lady Melania Trump; and John Costello, deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department.

The announcement comes as members of Congress in the House and Senate, including at least one Republican, push to impeach the president and pressure Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

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