“If a person who commits domestic violence gets into the government, then there is a breakdown in the system — there’s a breakdown in the vetting system — and that breakdown needs to be addressed,” House Speaker Paul Ryan says https://t.co/QBBnVSB2jV pic.twitter.com/IUv7mjOgie
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 14, 2018
Not long after House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) told CNN his group had launched an investigation into the White House’s handling of the Rob Porter scandal, reporters began peppering House Speaker Paul Ryan with questions about it at a separate press conference. “They clearly have work to do to fix their vetting system,” he said of Gowdy’s efforts, which Ryan confirmed he was informed of. When asked about President Trump’s well wishes for Porter, and his apparent refusal to “publicly condemn domestic violence,” however, Ryan exclaimed, “Absolutely!”
Ryan subsequently claimed he couldn’t “speak for what he said because I don’t even know,” but remained steadfast in his assertion:
“Clearly, we should all be condemning domestic violence. And if a person who commits domestic violence gets into government, then there’s a breakdown in the system. There’s a breakdown in the vetting system, and that breakdown needs to be addressed.”
Seeing as how FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted the White House’s own timeline for the Rob Porter scandal during his congressional testimony on Tuesday, Ryan isn’t wrong about there possibly being a “breakdown” here. Then again, considering the many other similar scandals that the Trump administration has produced in the past year, and Ryan’s inability to come out strongly against them, the speaker’s comments today will likely result in no major changes.
(Via CBS News)