The White House is embroiled in an explosive domestic scandal, with critics demanding to know how a top aide accused of domestic abuse could work there for a year despite failing to qualify for a security clearance.
A lawyer by training, Porter spent months overseeing the flow of executive orders and other paperwork crossing Donald Trump’s desk, and vetted documents requiring the president’s signature.
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“White House officials refused to explain Thursday why Chief of Staff John Kelly and others allowed Rob Porter to stay in his high-profile job even after his security clearance was held up over allegations of domestic abuse by two ex-wives,” USA Today says.
Sources told CBS News that the FBI informed the White House about the abuse allegations in November - so how could the news have taken so long to filter through the chain of command?
White House aides claim Porter “misled” Kelly “about the severity of the allegations” and “portrayed the women as making up stories to cause trouble”, reports The New York Times.
Trump was reportedly “surprised” and “disheartened” to hear the news. “He was saddened by it,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters.
But some commentators are questioning whether the White House turned a blind eye.
Taken together, “all the grown-ups in the room protected, privileged, and covered for Rob Porter despite everything they knew about his pattern of abuse, because his career was important to them”, says Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick.