Nobody saw this coming.
In a new book, Betsy DeVos, former Trump-era Education Secretary, reveals the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, was the last straw in standing by former President Donald Trump, adding that she was willing to use the 25th amendment to have Trump removed from office.
Writing about turning in her resignation letter on January 7, 2021, DeVos recalls that Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 Presidential election results prevented her from passing her last piece of school choice agenda legislation through Congress.
In her book titled “Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child” which will be released on June 21, De Vos writes, “To me, there was a line in the sand.”
“It wasn’t about the election results,” she continued, “It was about the value and image of the United States. It was about the public service rising above self. The president had lost sight of that.”
This is the first time DeVos has publicly spoken about what led her to resign in the final days of Trump’s administration, telling USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques in an interview that Trump’s actions “put roadblocks in the way” of her legislative goals.
In the interview, DeVos states, “I went to Washington to do a job on behalf of the American people and particularly for students, and a lot o what happened after the election sort of put roadblocks in the way of doing any major additional work.”
Devos continued, expressing her beliefs “that everything I could accomplish in office had been accomplished, based on that reality and that dynamic.”
The former Education Secretary gave insight into her thought process following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, saying not seeing “the president step in and do what he could have done to turn [the riot] back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue.”
DeVos emphasized how she was preoccupied with the impact the Capitol riot would have on children.
“I was thinking about the kids I was there to represent, and what they are seeing and what they are taking away from this — it was not defensible in any way.”
