Rob Porter's initial background check was finished all the way back in July, FBI chief testifies

Christopher Wray.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

FBI Director Christopher Wray has muddled the White House's official story about the departure of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter. Porter resigned last Wednesday after two of his ex-wives claimed to have suffered years of physical and mental abuse at his hands. The White House initially defended Porter against the allegations and claimed not to have known about them until last week, but Wray called that assertion into question Tuesday during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Wray: "Was the FBI aware of allegations related to Rob Porter and domestic abuse? And if so, when was the White House informed this could affect his security clearance?" The FBI director noted a "limit" to what he could disclose publicly, but said his intelligence agency "submitted a partial report on the investigation … in March" of 2017, and that a background check on Porter was completed by July of last year. He continued: "Soon thereafter we received requests for a follow-up inquiry … and provided that information in November." Wray said that this month the FBI "received some additional information and we passed that on as well," but the investigation officially concluded in January.

See more

Wray's statements seem to contradict the White House's story about the FBI background check. As The Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Ballhaus points out, White House spokesperson Raj Shah claimed the background check into Porter was "ongoing" when the allegations came to light. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the same assertion Monday.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.