Mick Mulvaney: Trump’s former chief of staff quits after Capitol riot

Other officials are staying in post for fear of who may replace them, says Northern Ireland envoy

Mick Mulvaney has quit the Trump administration in the wake of the Capitol riot, saying: “I can’t stay.”

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff told CNBC he has resigned as envoy to Northern Ireland.

He told the broadcaster: “I called Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning from that. I can’t do it. I can’t stay.  

“Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in."

It was the latest in a string of resignations following the deadly riot, which Mr Trump, his sons and his personal lawyer had incited from a podium outside the White House. Four people died in the violence.

:: Follow our live updates on the Capitol violence here

Deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, Melania Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, and White House social secretary Rickie Niceta all quit on Wednesday night.

Mr Mulvaney has been proven catastrophically wrong in his prediction, made exactly one month ago, that his old boss would go quietly if he lost the election.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal on 7 November, he said: “I have every expectation that Mr Trump will be, act and speak like a great president should, win or lose.”

Mr Mulvaney was ousted from the chief of staff role in a tweet from Mr Trump in March. Before filling in to smooth over the depature of John Kelly, he had been director of the Office of Management and Budget.

He has been on a topsy-turvy journey during the last four years. In 2016 he called Mr Trump “a terrible human being”; in 2019, part of the administration, he admitted Mr Trump had frozen aid to Ukraine to pressure its president into discrediting Joe Biden, even though the Oval Office was insisting this was not the case.