US President Donald Trump's press aide and senior adviser Hope Hicks will reportedly leave the White House next week, adding yet another name to the list of administration officials to step down from their positions after the storming of the Capitol building on Wednesday.
Bloomberg News reported that Hicks informed administration associates that she had already planned to and that her decision was unrelated to the riots in Washington earlier in the week.
The president brings out Hope Hicks at his rally just now.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 16, 2020
"We're proud of you, Hope," the president said as Hicks walked off the stage. pic.twitter.com/XMksxoQIF6
This follows the resignation of multiple White House officials namely, First Lady Melania Trump's chief of staff, ex-press secretary Stephanie Grisham, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Matthews, former acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who served as the president's ambassador to Northern Ireland, and Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao stepped down on Thursday and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued her resignation the previous day.
This follows many Democrats and some Republicans blaming Trump for the Capitol Hill rampage, which began as protests against the formal counting of the Electoral College votes to formalise the election victory of Democratic nominee Joe Biden but quickly erupted into a violent storming of the federal building.
I'm home, and will post my footage of the #CapitolHill riot chronologically as I go through it.
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) January 6, 2021
These are some of the scenes I first saw arriving at the Capitol, just as they breached the perimeter.
Fighting largely focused on the first set of steps. pic.twitter.com/nAs9n5Juwv
While saying he does not accept the result of the election, President Trump has agreed to a peaceful transition of power between his administration and Joe Biden's.