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- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was recorded telling Department of Education staff to become “the resistance” to the Biden administration when he becomes president in January.
- She made the comment during a virtual meeting with department staff, according to Politico, which obtained a recording of the meeting.
- “Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first — always,” she said.
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was recorded telling her staff to become “the resistance” to the Biden administration when he becomes president next month, according to Politico.
DeVos was recorded making the comment during a virtual meeting with the Department of Education, during which she said that while she will be gone when President-elect Joe Biden comes into power on January 20, many employees would remain.
“Let me leave you with this plea: Resist,” DeVos said, according to the recording obtained by Politico. “Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first – always.”
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for further comment or context.
DeVos faced controversy for several of the decisions she made as education secretary, including making Title IX changes that critics said discouraged victims of sexual assault from coming forward, rescinding a policy that required schools to provide bathrooms to transgender students, and trying to funnel federal COVID-19 aid toward private schools over public institutions.
In her Department of Education meeting, she said her goal as education security was to "do what's right for students."
"Four years later it's still my focus and it's still my hope for all of you," she said, according to Politico.
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