Trump cabinet member Elaine Chao abruptly resigns as 25th Amendment buzz grows
After Donald Trump incited a terrorist attack against the U.S. Capitol yesterday and then praised the terrorists, there was media buzz that Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was considering resigning. Just now, multiple major news outlets confirmed that Chao is indeed resigning.
This is notable because it comes even as the pressure is mounting on Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. In such case, Chao would have been one of the cabinet members voting on whether to remove Donald Trump. This will certainly raise questions about whether she’s bailing now in order to avoid having to vote on the 25th one way or the other, so as to take the heat off her spouse Mitch McConnell.
In any case, the dominoes keep falling. Cabinet math aside, each increasingly high profile resignation right now only serves to place even more pressure on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is leading the charge in placing that pressure on Pence. Republican Governor Phil Scott, Republican Governor Larry Hogan, and House Republican Adam Kinzinger are all supporting the effort.
