“My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.” “A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” Trump said in a pre-recorded video taped at the White House.

President Trump conceded publicly for the first time Thursday that he will not serve a second term, stopping short of congratulating President-elect Joe Biden but acknowledging a transfer of power is now underway. However, we paid an incredible price as a nation for his inability to see the facts and understand them and accept them. “I’m glad he’s come to that conclusion finally. “If he’d spent the energy that he has tried to use to sow doubt and violence and seeds of division toward addressing the pandemic, lives would have been saved,” Whitmer added. One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police as the crowd breached the building and three others suffered medical emergencies that proved fatal. What do we know: Rioters on Wednesday breached the Capitol building and the Senate chamber, ransacked the offices of Pelosi and other Capitol offices, and a laptop was stolen from the office of Oregon Sen. “Had they invested themselves in a peaceful transition and started working with the incoming administration, lives would have been saved.”

“Had he done this earlier, lives would have been saved,” Whitmer told CNN’s Erin Burnett, a day after rioters stormed the US Capitol building. Gretchen Whitmer called out President Trump for finally pledging an “orderly” transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. Gretchen Whitmer speaks with CNN on Thursday. “That message and tone should have been relayed election night…not after people died,” the adviser added. “I think that video was done only because almost all his senior staff was about to resign, and impeachment is imminent,” the adviser said. It’s not known yet if that was enough assuage Cabinet members’ concerns and took the discussions of the table.Ī White House adviser in discussions with senior officials said Trump only recorded the video released this evening because his presidency is currently threatened by looming resignations and potential impeachment. On Thursday night, Trump released a pre-recorded video that said he would not serve a second term. “Why take the risk?” one senior official said. Some officials were also concerned about the optics of holding a cabinet meeting amid national discussions about the 25th Amendment. Some of the secretaries are hesitant to agree to a meeting because of the risk an attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment would face, or that they would draw Trump’s ire. Hanging over the meeting would be the possibility that a majority of the Cabinet could invoke the 25th Amendment and strip Trump of his power as president.Ĭhiefs of staff of federal departments have also been calling each other to discuss the possibility. The two Cabinet secretaries discussed the possibility of demanding the President deliver a public address committing to a peaceful transfer of power, which Trump did Thursday evening. However, three senior administration officials also tell CNN that two Cabinet secretaries have called fellow members of the Cabinet to take their “temperatures” about demanding a Cabinet meeting with the President to confront him about his behavior. And an administration official tells CNN that Pence himself has not discussed invoking the 25th Amendment with any Cabinet officials. President Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao also resigned today.Ī source close to Vice President Mike Pence said inquiries about invoking the 25th Amendment have been coming into Pence advisers and those discussions have been under way.īut the source said it is “highly unlikely” that Pence would pursue that path at this point, given that the effort is expected to be unsuccessful. I believe that this behavior was totally unacceptable and, in my own heart, I simply am not able to continue,” McCance-Katz wrote. “It had been my plan to stay until the change in administration occurred, but my plans abruptly changed last evening when … I saw the violent takeover of the Capitol building. “I have chosen to resign today as the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use,” McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse for HHS, wrote in a letter dated today.

Pete Marovich/Abaca/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesĮlinore McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, resigned today in the wake of President Trump’s role and response to mob breaching the US Capitol. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks alongside President Donald Trump on Septemin Washington, DC.

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