The scandal involving White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter’s sudden resignation over domestic abuse allegations is only worsening. The White House reportedly knew about these accusations for months, even though Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters that Chief of Staff John Kelly did not know the full extent of the allegations until this week. And in the Oval Office on Friday, President Trump expressed how he was “very sad” about the allegations. He also — without mentioning Porter’s two ex-wives — stressed that his former staff secretary denied the claims against him:
“I found out about it recently and I was surprised by it. We certainly wish him well. It’s obviously a very tough time for him. He did a very good job while he was in the White House, and we hope he has a wonderful career. Hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him, but it was very sad when we heard about it, and certainly, he’s very sad. Now, he also says he’s innocent, and I think you have to remember that … but we absolutely wish him well.”
Trump’s words arrive in contrast to John Kelly’s memo to White House staff. “While we are all processing the shocking and troubling allegations made against a former White House staffer,” Kelly declared. “I want you to know that we all take matters of domestic violence seriously. Domestic violence is abhorrent and has no place in our society.”
Porter did indeed deny the claims against him, despite a widely-circulated black-eye photo of ex-wife Colbie Holderness that was taken after an alleged early-2000s physical altercation between the pair. Porter’s other ex-wife, Jennie Willoughby, spoke in this Washington Post interview about a pattern of rage along with verbal and physical abuse that began in 2010. Willoughby says that after three years of being married to Porter, “I was sort of a shell of a person.”
(Via Fox News & Washington Post)