Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mina Chang says she was "unfairly maligned"
A senior US state department official has resigned amid reports she filled up her CV with false claims about her education and professional background.
Mina Chang was accused by US media of claiming a non-existent university degree and creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it.
Ms Chang, 35, was deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO).
In her resignation letter, she denied all the allegations.
Ms Chang also said she had been "unfairly maligned, unprotected by my superiors, and exposed to a media with an insatiable desire for gossip and scandal, genuine or otherwise".
What is Mina Chang accused of?
NBC News reported last week that Ms Chang had inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her non-profit work.
It said that an NBC News investigation had found that Ms Chang:
Created a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it
Claimed a non-existent degree from the University of Hawaii
Invented a role on a United Nations panel
Claimed to have addressed both the Democratic and the Republican national conventions
Footage has emerged back from 2017, where Ms Chang is interviewed and the fake Time magazine cover is shown.
US media say the scandal has raised questions about the Trump administration's vetting process.
Ms Chang took her post at the CSO in April, and US media report that before the row she was being considered for a more important government position managing a budget of more than $1bn (£772m).
Ms Chang denied all the allegations in her resignation letter on Monday.
In the letter, obtained and published by CNN, she wrote: "A character assassination based solely on innuendo was launched against me attacking my credentials and character. This was not an accident.
"Despite answering every question put to me by a reporter and offering a detailed rebuttal, my superiors at the department refused to defend me, stand up for the truth or allow me to answer the false charges against me.
"Today, the politics of division and personal destruction are at their very worst, and I have found myself in the crosscurrents of that very division.
"It is essential that my resignation be seen as a protest and not as surrender, because I will not surrender my commitment to serve, my fidelity to the truth or my love of country."
She described the current environment at the state department as "toxic", saying the organisation was experiencing "the worst and most profound moral crisis".
The state department has so far made no public comments on the issue.
scrotes_magotes on November 19th, 2019 at 12:31 UTC »
She didn’t inflate her CV. She lied. She flat-out lied about her qualifications and literally everything she faked was easily verifiable:
created a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it
claimed to have held a position at the UN which doesn’t actually exist
claimed she addressed both the democratic and republican national conventions, neither of which she addressed
claimed she had a degree from University of Hawaii which she did not actually have
What’s crazy is how none of this was caught before she was hired. I get that a lot of employers don’t really do a thorough job of verifying someone’s resume, but you’d think the State Department would have a more stringent vetting process.
JoeyHollywood on November 19th, 2019 at 12:23 UTC »
She’s denying that she faked the Time cover?
EDIT: I looked it up.
According to Wikipedia:
AzorianMiles1 on November 19th, 2019 at 12:02 UTC »
Ha, I love how everything in her Wikipedia page now says “claimed.”
“Chang, a Korean-American[5] claims to be the child of two Salvation Army officers, grew up in Atlanta.[6] In a May, 2014 interview, Chang claimed to hold a degree in international development from the University of Hawaii, concentrating on mission work and aid practices.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Chang