US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday and became the second member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to stop the riot by his supporters at the US Capitol.
In a letter addressed to Trump, she squarely laid the blame for the chaos in Washington at the feet of the president, who encouraged the mob before they marched to Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon while both congressional councils were prepared to to confirm victory of Joe Biden’s Electoral College. .
Photographer: Yuri Gripas / Abaca Press / Bloomberg
“The impact your rhetoric has had on the situation is wrong, and that’s the turning point for me,” she wrote. “Impressive kids are watching it all, and they are learning from us.
DeVos, 62, is among several Trump administration officials who have resigned following the riot, including Transportation Minister Elaine Chao, who also stepped down Thursday.
DeVos was one of Trump’s stalwart supporters and, along with Chao, one of the members of his government who served the longest. But she recently distanced herself from the president, acknowledging that Biden won the November 3 election, even though Trump still falsely accused the vote of being deceived.
In her letter, issued by the Department of Education, she highlighted what she calls the government’s “many achievements”, including its pressure to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected many educators and public health officials resisted.
Earlier: Chao leaves Trump cabinet to resign in Wake of Riot
“Mr. President, I know for sure that history will show that we were right in our repeated insistence on and support for schools that reopen this year and re-teach all American students,” she wrote.
But she added that ‘we need to highlight and celebrate the government’s many achievements on behalf of the American people. Instead, we need to clean up the mess caused by violent protests that dominate the American Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s affairs. ”
Read more: Trump chooses his perfect education secretary in Betsy Devos
DeVos was appointed to the cabinet post despite her lack of experience in education policy. She preferred school choice, proof of purchase and charter schools, much to the dismay of teacher unions and liberal education activists. She also eased Obama’s administrative restrictions on non-profit colleges. And in 2019, she was fined $ 100,000 for violating a judge’s order for debt collection against former students of the bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc.
She grew up in Michigan, where she promoted educational affairs, including school choice. She is married to former Amway Corp. president Dick DeVos and is the sister of Erik Prince, the founder of the private military contractor Blackwater USA and a Trump ally. Their father, Edgar Prince, was an engineer and industrialist.
– With help by Justin Sink and Andrew Kreighbaum
(Background updates, in last paragraph.)