SC’s Mick Mulvaney leaves Trump administration post after mob breaks into Capitol
South Carolina’s Mick Mulvaney told CNBC Thursday he is leaving the Trump administration — this time for good — after displeasure over President Donald Trump’s handling and response to a violent pro-Trump mob that broke into the Capitol Wednesday.
Mulvaney, who served until March last year as Trump’s acting chief of staff, more recently served in a diplomatic post as the Trump administration’s special envoy to North Ireland. The former South Carolina congressman from Indian Land told the news outlet that he called U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late Wednesday to inform him of his resignation.
“I can’t do it,” Mulvaney told CNBC. “I can’t stay.”
Mulvaney’s leave was among a handful of late-night resignations that all occurred roughly two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. The first to announce their resignation was former White House communications aide and former chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump Stephanie Grisham.
She was followed by Sarah Matthews, a White House press secretary, then Matt Pottinger, deputy national security adviser.
“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,” Mulvaney told CNBC.
The president drew extreme criticism Wednesday after he failed to strongly denounce the violent mob of roughly 1,000 pro-Trump supporters, who pushed past Capitol police and broke into offices and the House and Senate chambers.
Media reports said four people died, including one woman who was shot and killed inside the Capitol.
Mulvaney posted four tweets Wednesday, calling on Trump to denounce the rioters, including one tweet in which he said the president’s tweet was “not enough.”
“He can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home,” Mulvaney tweeted.
Trump did release a tweet and recorded video — which was eventually removed from some social media sites — asking rioters to remain peaceful and to go home. But the tweets and video were also threaded with, again, unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, a stolen election. In the video, he also referred to rioters as “very special” as the Capitol remained on lockdown.
“The best thing @realdonaldtrump could do right now is to address the nation from the Oval Office and condemn the riots. A peaceful transition of power is essential to the country and needs to take place on 1/20,” Mulvaney tweeted.
In November, four days after the election, Mulvaney penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, “If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 8:59 AM.
