“Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed. As I’m sure is the case with many of you it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside,” Chao wrote in a Twitter post.

Chao announced that she is resigning as of Jan. 11 and will try to help her announced successor, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the pick of President-elect Joe Biden to lead the department.

In the aftermath of Wednesday's demonstrations at the US Capitol, Chao is the first cabinet secretary to resign. She is joining a rising list of Trump administration officials who stepped down two weeks before Trump's term ended, including former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who left Northern Ireland as his special envoy.

After witnessing the president's role in and reaction to a violent mob of his supporters storming the Capitol and disrupting the counting of Electoral College votes, several other White House officials are weighing departures.

Maritime Business World