It was not an easy trip to the United States; she traveled with her mother and two of her sisters on a cargo ship, and t… "Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed," Chao wrote in a statement posted to Twitter, announcing her resignation. Did she consider the usefulness of a congressional connection before this encounter? Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. The Truth About Mitch McConnell's Wife, Elaine Chao. Want me to let you in on a secret? She has since been considered by some to be one of the most powerful women in Washington (via Town & Country). Chao was sworn in as the Trump administration's transportation secretary on January 31, 2017. Her father worked three jobs while teaching his daughter English. In November 2016, … At Harvard, she was the first woman elected a class officer and class marshal. However, after a group of rioters descended on the Capitol building on January 6, 2020, Chao chose to draw a line in the sand (via MSNBC). She met her husband on a blind date. Chao was the first Trump Cabinet member to resign because of the civil unrest. The executive education center was the first building at Harvard Business School named for a woman and the first named for an Asian-American on the Harvard campus. Born in Taiwan, Elaine came to the U.S. on a cargo ship when she was just 8 years old. She became a U.S. citizen when she was 19, attended college at Mount Holyoke, and then got an MBA at Harvard Business School. Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer on Sunday detailed how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his wife Elaine Chao are financially tied to the Chinese Communist Party. She is the eldest of six girls.Her father, a merchant mariner, moved to the U.S. in 1958. "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. "The biggest asset I have by far is the only Kentucky woman who served in a president’s cabinet, my wife, Elaine Chao," McConnell said at a Fancy Farm GOP political picnic in August 2014. She resigned her post as Transportation Secretary the next day. From 1968 to 1980, McConnell was married to his first wife, Sherrill Redmon, with whom he shares 3 children. Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and two other legislators requested the inspector general investigate whether McConnell’s wife had been given preferential treatment tp her home state during her husband’s 2020 reelection campaign. Mitch McConnell is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party who has served as the senior United States Senator from Kentucky since 1985. 1984: Elected to the U.S. Senate defeating Democratic opponent, Walter "Dee" Huddleston. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell U.S. His father-in-law has given the couple millions of dollars. "I call him my low-maintenance husband.". He married her after divorcing his first wife, and now is a member of a huge shipping family from Taiwan. She released a statement saying, "Yesterday, our country experienced a traumautic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed. The rest of the family followed three years later, when James had saved the money for the journey and their visas. Who Are Andrew Cuomo's Siblings and Children? 9 Things You Should Know, George W. Bush Releases Wounded Warrior Paintings, Full Text: George W. Bush's Speech on Trumpism. Here are nine things you should know about her and what she's accomplished. A senator earned $75,100 in 1985, and it has risen to $174,000 as of 2009, Senate records show. The two married on Ronald Reagan's birthday. No wonder her husband, Mitch McConnell is so eager to get Biden installed into office. All that hard work paid off. Sam Dangremond is a Contributing Digital Editor at Town & Country, where he covers men's style, cocktails, travel, and the social scene. Mitch McConnell In Trouble As Wife Becomes Target Of Investigation Chao resigned after the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. After the Peace Corps, she became president of the United Way in 1992. Since then, she's served in some of the highest positions of government, banking, and the nonprofit world—most recently as President Trump's Secretary of Transportation, until she announced her resignation in the wake of the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.