Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is the latest Trump administration official revealed to have criticized the president's post-election actions.
Azar sent the White House a departure letter earlier this week, and while he clarified he'll continue in his role until Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden assumes office, he had harsh words for President Trump, particularly concerning his role in the deadly riot at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6. "Unfortunately, these actions and rhetoric following the election, especially during the past week, threaten to tarnish these and other historic legacies of this administration," he wrote, referring to the rapid creation of two vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Azar said the riot was an "assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power" in the United States. Ultimately, though he stopped short of resigning. "With the pandemic raging, the continued need to deliver vaccines and therapeutics to the American people, and the imperative of ensuring a smooth transition to the Biden administration, I have determined that it is in the best interest of the people we serve to remain as secretary until the end of the term," he explained. Read more at The Hill. Tim O'Donnell
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.