Following the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said she had resigned from her cabinet after learning that Vice President Mike Pence would not support invoking the 25th Amendment to oust President Donald Trump from the presidency. . “I spoke to the vice president and just informed him that I was there to do what he wanted and needed to do or help, and it made it very clear to me that he was not going to go this way or that way.” DeVos told USA Today columnist Ingrid Jacques in her first public interview about her decision to resign on January 7, 2021. “I spoke to colleagues. I wanted to better understand the law itself and see if it was applicable in this case. There were more than a few people who had these conversations internally,” he added, confirming reports at the time that members of the cabinet discussed the invocation of the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment allows a vice-president to assume the presidency with the approval of himself and the majority of the members of the Council of Ministers. But after Pence opposed such efforts, DeVos decided to leave the Trump administration the same day, Jacques said. DeVos has not spoken to Trump since, he told Jacques. DeVos comments come before the release of her new book, “Ostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child,” which will be released on June 21. The book discusses the education system in the United States and highlights the time DeVos worked for Trump during his one term until her resignation. In the book, DeVos chronicles the attack on the Capitol on January 6 and writes that it was its turning point with the support of Trump. “For me, there was a line in the sand. It was not about the election results. It was about the values and image of the United States. It was about public service that outdid itself. The president had lost sight of it,” he wrote. , according to USA Today. DeVos told Jacques that what happened on January 6 “could not be defended in any way” and criticized the president for his inaction. “When I saw what was happening on January 6 and I did not see the president intervene and do what he could do to turn it around or slow it down or really deal with the situation, it was obvious to me that I could not continue.” , said DeVos. The former Secretary of Education was among the slaughtered Trump administration officials who resigned after the Capitol uprising, along with former Transport Secretary Elaine Chao, former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and former incumbent Secretary of Homeland Security Chad. The parliamentary selection committee investigating January 6th will hold six public hearings this month to reveal its findings after a year-long investigation. The first hearing is on Thursday afternoon. The commission has questioned more than 1,000 witnesses and examined thousands of documents as part of its investigation.
