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HHS Sec. Alex Azar resigns, condemns Capitol riots

Updated  January 15, 2021 9:05pm CST
U.S.
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

Biden outlines plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccine

President-elect Joe Biden said that administering 100 million shots in his first 100 days is only the beginning of his coronavirus plan in remarks on Jan. 15, 2021 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is condemning the assault on the U.S. Capitol in his formal letter of resignation.

Azar says he will resign at noon on Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.

Azar wrote in his letter to President Donald Trump, dated Jan. 12: "The attacks on the Capitol were an assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power that the United States of America first brought to the world."

Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), speaks as President Donald Trump listens during an event on lowering prescription drug prices on November 20, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

He added: "I implore you to continue to condemn unequivocally any form of violence, to demand that no one attempt to disrupt the inaugural activities in Washington or elsewhere, and to continue to support unreservedly the peaceful and orderly transition of power on January 20."

The two-page letter recited administration accomplishments that Azar said "the actions and rhetoric following the election ... threaten to tarnish."

U.S.Politics