Transportation Sec. Elaine Chao announces resignation

Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith joins Kristin Myers to break down the latest resignation out of D.C. following yesterday’s siege on Capitol Hill.

Video Transcript

- Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. We are waiting on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to talk in just a couple of moments. But first we have a bit of breaking news-- another resignation out of the White House. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao-- she is the wife of Senator Mitch McConnell. She has decided to resign. She cited yesterday's events as one of the reasons why. I want to turn now to Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith with more information. Hey, Jess.

JESSICA SMITH: Hey, you hit it. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is resigning, according to the Washington Post. We're still trying to get more information about this. This story just broke. But Josh [? Dossi, ?] a reporter at the Post, said that she cited yesterday's events as a reason for the resignation in an email to her Department of Transportation colleagues. As you mentioned, she is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In that memo, [? Dossi ?] says that Chao told the other employees, her colleagues, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event, as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building [? follow ?] 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.

So this makes her the first in the Cabinet to resign. There had been some reporting that Cabinet members were considering this. So we'll be watching to see if there are any other further resignations. We know some members of the staff in the administration have stepped down. But now, we'll be watching to see if she is the first of multiple Cabinet members. We'll have to wait and see.