Tag Archives: Trump cabinet

NBC News reports: Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary, resigned earlier this week, citing the violent Capitol riot inflamed by President Donald Trump in his resignation letter obtained by NBC News. Azar said his resignation would become effective on Jan. 20th — the same date he would have been leaving office once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. …

Mediaite reports: “Do you believe the president is able to discharge the duties of his office?” Stephanopoulos asked. Azar said the insurrection at the Capitol was an “assault on democracy,” but he sidestepped the core question with a call for a peaceful transfer of power. Stephanopoulos stayed on the topic by noting that Trump faces impeachment if not removed through …

Axios reports: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf will step down from his position, Fox News first reported and Axios has confirmed. Word of Wolf’s departure comes a week before the inauguration and the massive security concerns following the Capitol siege. Wolf’s announcement follows last week’s departure of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, among numerous administration …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation to President Trump on Thursday night. “We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people,” she wrote in a letter to the president. “Instead we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protesters overrunning the U.S. Capitol in …

USA Today reports: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao will resign from her position, according to a source with knowledge of the decision. Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is the first Cabinet secretary to resign after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday in an attempt to halt the counting of Electoral College votes. “Yesterday, our …

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department on Tuesday to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes into power next month. During a department-wide virtual meeting to discuss the shift to the new administration, DeVos acknowledged that most of the agency’s thousands of career employees “will be here through the coming transition and …

The Washington Post reports: Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt, 51, tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday. Bernhardt was tested for the virus that causes covid-19 before President Trump held a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. As a result, the secretary did not attend the session. “He is currently asymptomatic and will continue to work on behalf of the American people while in …

CNBC reports: In a tweet Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump said he terminated his Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. “I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately,” Trump wrote. The latest revelation comes as Trump refuses to …

NBC News reports: Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation, according to three current defense officials. It’s not uncommon for Cabinet secretaries to prepare undated letters of resignation during a presidential transition, giving the commander in chief the chance to replace them for a second term. The president decides whether to accept the resignation letters, and the …

CBS News reports: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday called on Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to resign, arguing he has failed to stand up to President Trump in the response to coronavirus. The call from Schumer comes amid a series of controversies at HHS. On Monday, the New York Times reported that a top …

Bloomberg News reports: President Donald Trump’s alleged remarks disparaging soldiers who died in combat are “despicable” if accurate and will further damage him politically among service members and their families, his former National Security Adviser John Bolton said. “These comments are despicable. If he made them, they are despicable,” Bolton said in a Bloomberg Radio interview on Friday. “Why should …

The Times of Israel reports: Plans were scrapped for US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to film a Republican campaign ad in Israel in the wake of criticism surrounding his speech from Jerusalem to the Republican National Convention, according to a Tuesday report. Channel 12 news cited sources with knowledge of the discussions, who said plans for Pompeo to participate …

NBC News reports: In early May 2018, after weeks of phone calls and private meetings, 11 of the president’s most senior advisers were called to the White House Situation Room where they were asked, by a show-of-hands vote, to decide the fate of thousands of migrant parents and their children, according to two officials who were there. Trump’s senior adviser, …

The New York Times reports: A senior Labor Department lawyer contends she faces removal from her job after objecting to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s intervention in a pay discrimination case against Oracle, a tech giant with close White House connections. Oracle has a lot at stake in the case, which originated in the Obama administration: potentially hundreds of millions of …

Earlier today Trump went around the room in the Oval Office and forced Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner, Robert O’Brien and others to praise on him camera, after which they gathered in a circle around Trump’s desk and applauded him while he beamed. The North Korean judge awarded him the full ten points. And now there’s this: White House national security …

CNBC reports: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has been hospitalized due to health reasons not related to the coronavirus, according to a Commerce Department spokesperson. “Secretary Ross has been admitted into the hospital for minor, non-coronavirus related issues. He is doing well and we anticipate his release soon,” according to a statement NBC News obtained. Ross started working remotely …

NBC News reports: As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in evening attire as they’re escorted by private elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Until the …

The New York Times reports: The acting intelligence chief announced a reorganization of the National Counter-Terrorism Center on Friday, part of an effort to reduce the size of the office overseeing the nation’s spy agencies. Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, has been racing against the clock to make changes to his office before his appointment ends and …

The New York Times reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday issued final rules for how public and private schools and colleges must address allegations of sexual misconduct, locking in protections for accused students and faculty but tempering earlier proposals that critics said would harm victims of assault and harassment. The rules preserve Ms. DeVos’s broad goals in overhauling Title …

The New York Daily News reports: Steve Mnuchin has some good news and some bad news. The Treasury Secretary said Monday that more stimulus would be coming soon to help an economy crippled by coronavirus. But Mnuchin also said it’s “too hard to tell” whether international travel will be possible this year as the pandemic wreaks havoc across the globe. …