Trump inner circle members who quit over Jan 6th riot have gone strangely silent

With the anniversary of the January 6th Capitol insurrection looming this week, Politico went back and took a look at senior White House officials who worked under former president Donald Trump who quit in protest or to protect their reputations as the Trump-inspired riot rocked the country.

What they found was many who have stayed out of the fray and have avoided criticizing the former president in the past year as a House select committee investigates the White House's role in the insurrection.

As Politico's Meredith McGraw and Daniel Lippman wrote, "It was a notable moment of public dissent after four years marked mostly by fidelity," after "they condemned Trump for either stoking the riots or doing next-to-nothing to stop them," however "its impact has proved minimal."

To make their point, McGraw and Lippman reveal that they contacted 18 officials who made high-profile exits and only one was willing to talk about the Trump White House at the time when they departed.

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"Twelve months ago, the outgoing president’s political future appeared to be in serious jeopardy. Not only had he lost his reelection bid, but his post-election conduct — including the peddling of baseless lies about the integrity of Joe Biden’s victory— and his encouragement of a D.C. gathering timed with Congress’ certification of the vote, had created the kindling that led to the riots," the Politico report notes before adding, "As Trump has sought to reclaim his throne, those who resigned in protest have scampered from public view — rarely, if ever, talking about that day."

Key officials who have gone silent include former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, ex-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger.

Regarding their silence, David Shulkin who served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs until Trump fired him by tweet, explained, “We have seen countless times of people who have spoken out” against Trump and “paid the price with personal attacks against them.”

In brief comments, Mulvaney admitted, "The folks who spent time away from our families, put our careers on the line to go work for Donald Trump, and we did have those successes to look back at, but now it will always be, ‘Oh yeah, you work for the guy who tried to overtake the government.' That legacy is gone as of yesterday and that’s extraordinarily disappointing to those of us who work for him.”

Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who also quit after Jan 6th, was a bit more candid.

"Looking back, Donald Trump and our administration was the story of ‘The Emperor Has No Clothes.’ Everyone around him told him what he wanted to hear all the time, true or not and they’re still doing it today,” she explained. “A lot of it is about honest to goodness survival. But there is power in numbers and if people could stand together…we could get back on track."

You can read more here.