WASHINGTON – Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, told CNBC on Thursday that he has resigned as US special envoy to Northern Ireland.
“I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to let him know that I was quitting. I can not do it. I can’t stay, ‘said Mick Mulvaney in an exclusive interview on’ Squawk Box ‘.
“Those who choose to stay, and I have spoken to some of them, choose to stay because they fear the president would put someone worse in it,” Mulvaney said. But he said other officials could resign after Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol.
A government official confirmed to CNBC’s Eamon Javers that national security adviser Robert O’Brien was considering resigning over the uprising. O’Brien’s deputy, Matthew Pottinger, has reportedly resigned. Stephanie Grisham, First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff, and Sarah Matthews, deputy White House press secretary, resigned on Wednesday.
“We didn’t sign up for what you saw last night,” Mulvaney said. “We signed up to make America great again, we signed up for lower taxes and less regulation. The president has a long list of achievements that we can be proud of.”
“But that all disappeared yesterday, and I think you’re right to ask the question ‘How did it happen?'” Mulvaney told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Mulvaney added that Trump “was not the same as he was eight months ago.”
Trump supporters stand on the U.S. Capitol Police’s armored vehicle while others take the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress works to certify electoral college votes.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Trump encouraged thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol at a Wednesday rally outside the White House to protest what were historically ceremonial procedures.
Trump returned to the White House after his speech. During the ensuing riots, Trump told supporters in a tweeted video “you have to go home now,” but he did not condemn the violence and continued to falsely claim that he had won the election. Twitter later deleted that tweet and locked down the president’s account.
Mulvaney said the chaos in the Capitol, which forced Congress to halt the process of declaring Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, would overshadow the Trump administration’s achievements.
“The people who spent time outside of our families risked our careers to work for Donald Trump, and we had those successes to look back to, but now it will always be, ‘Oh yeah, you’re working on the man trying to catch up with the government, ” Mulvaney said.
“That legacy has disappeared from yesterday and that is extremely disappointing for those of us who work for him,” he added.
– Reuters contributed to this report.