White House Refuses to Say What John Kelly Knew About Rob Porter Wife-Beating Story
Source: The Daily Beast
The Trump team says the chief of staff became ‘fully aware’ of allegations yesterday, but won’t say what, if anything, he was partially aware of before then.
GIDEON RESNICK
02.08.18 4:44 PM ET
The day after a White House aide resigned following allegations of domestic violence, the administration deflected questions about what the aide’s boss, Chief of Staff John Kelly, knew and when he knew it.
White House spokesperson Raj Shah refused to answer directly when Kelly learned of the allegations against staff secretary Rob Porter prior to reports beginning Tuesday night that featured Porter’s ex-wives claiming he physically abused them. The women were interviewed by the FBI as part of Porter's background check for a security clearance. Shah said he wouldn't comment on the specifics of the background-check process and that Porter had been working with an interim security clearance.
Though Kelly and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Porter’s reputation in a Daily Mail story published late Tuesday, Shah said that once Kelly saw the photos of Porter’s previous wife’s battered face, Kelly’s position changed.
Shah said that the allegations made against Porter are “serious and disturbing,” adding that they "involve incidents long before he joined the White House” and that Porter had denied wrongdoing. Kelly, he said, had only become “fully aware” of the allegations yesterday.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-refuses-to-say-what-john-kelly-knew-about-rob-porter-wife-beating-story?ref=home
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