Former staff secretary Rob Porter was reportedly in active talks about a promotion, possibly to deputy chief of staff, when his ex-wives went public with allegations that he had physically and verbally abused them, CNN reports.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has claimed he demanded and got Porter's resignation within 40 minutes of fully understanding the severity of the allegations last week, although FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that he first briefed the White House on Porter in March 2017, and then several more times in subsequent months. Likewise, "multiple administration officials" told Politico and other news organizations that Kelly had known about the main points of the allegations against Porter for months, as had White House Counsel Don McGahn.
Porter's "anticipated elevation further highlights how top White House officials were willing to overlook indications from the FBI that there were potential abuse allegations in his background in exchange for professional competence in a tumultuous West Wing," CNN reports. Porter had reportedly expressed interest in speechwriting and trade policy positions as well.
"Kelly had told associates that Porter was one of the few competent professionals on his staff [and] wanted to ensure that he was being used to his full potential," reports CNN's David Wright. As The New York Times' Alex Burns adds: "There's a spiraling dynamic here: Many competent [Republicans] don't want to work in the [White House] for reasons including aversion to scandal, so they end up hiring staff that doesn't share that aversion, end up with more scandal, and have an even harder time hiring competent people than at the start." Jeva Lange
Don Newcombe, a star pitcher for the Dodgers, died Tuesday, following a long illness. He was 92.
Dodgers president Stan Kasten said in a statement that Newcombe's "presence and life established him as a role model for major leaguers across the country. He was a constant presence at Dodger Stadium and players always gravitated toward him for his endless advice and friendship." Sandy Koufax said Newcombe was "a mentor at first, a friend at the end. He will be missed by anyone who got to know him."
After getting his start in the Negro Leagues, Newcombe broke barriers as one of the first black pitchers in Major League Baseball. Newcombe played for 10 seasons, starting with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949, and in 1956 he won the inaugural Cy Young Award and National League MVP. Following his retirement, Newcombe disclosed that he had a drinking problem, and after becoming sober in the 1960s, he raised awareness about alcohol abuse. He later worked with the Dodgers as director of community affairs and later special adviser to the team's chairman. Catherine Garcia
President Trump is nominating Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general, the White House announced Tuesday night.
Rosen, the deputy transportation secretary, served in the George W. Bush administration. Last week, William Barr was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as attorney general, and people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that Barr picked Rosen; both worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. In a statement, Barr said Rosen's "years of outstanding legal and management experience make him an excellent choice to succeed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has served the Department of Justice over many years with dedication and distinction."
Rosenstein is reportedly expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March. After Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017. Catherine Garcia
After a model called Burberry out for showing a sweatshirt with a noose around the neckline during London Fashion Week, the luxury brand announced on Tuesday that the item has been removed from its latest collection.
The sweatshirt was part of Burberry's "Tempest" line, for autumn/winter 2019. Model Liz Kennedy saw the sweatshirt while getting ready to walk in Sunday's runway show, and was disturbed. "Suicide is not fashion," she wrote in an Instagram post. "It is not glamorous nor edgy. Let's not forget about the horrifying history of lynching either. There are hundreds of ways to tie a rope and they chose to tie it like a noose completely ignoring the fact that it was hanging around a neck."
Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti and Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci both apologized, and Gobbetti released a statement saying the company is "deeply sorry" for the "distress" caused by the sweatshirt. "Though the design was inspired by the marine theme that ran throughout the collection, it was insensitive and we made a mistake," he said. Catherine Garcia
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) got candid during an interview Tuesday with CBS News, saying President Trump is "pretty weak" going into the 2020 election, and other Republicans who will be on a ballot should take notice.
While Hogan thinks Trump will likely stave off any Republican primary challengers, because of his low poll numbers, the odds of Trump "losing a general election are pretty good. I'm not saying he couldn't win, but he's pretty weak in the general election." If he "weakens further," Hogan added, Republican elected officials will have to ask themselves if he is "going to take the rest of us down with him."
Hogan is the governor of a blue state, and was re-elected in November. Some anti-Trump Republicans have been trying to get him to take on Trump in 2020, but he thinks that would be "very difficult. Nobody has successfully challenged a sitting president in the same party in a primary since 1884." Catherine Garcia
Democrats aren't making it easy to choose a 2020 presidential candidate — or a location for their election-year convention.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has narrowed down potential Democratic National Convention locations to Houston, Miami, and Milwaukee, with party members saying Milwaukee is in the lead. Yet after the DNC seemingly made final visits to the potential cities, "a fierce debate has unfolded behind the scenes" as Democrats try to pull Perez away from his apparent top choice, The Associated Press reports.
As AP puts it, the convention "could funnel millions of dollars into the local economy" of its chosen city. But Milwaukee has never held an event as big as the Democratic convention, and even though Wisconsin Democrats insist there's enough room for everyone, the city simply has fewer high-end hotels compared to the other two cities. Still, Chicago is just a two-hour drive away, meaning fancy donors could "stay and entertain [there] before traveling to Milwaukee for the biggest prime-time events," AP says.
Houston and Miami would have no problem providing luxury accommodations. But an ongoing labor and wage spat between Houston's mayor and firefighters wouldn't be a good look for a party looking to regain working class voters, AP notes. Miami's best hotels are far from downtown — not to mention that the convention coincides with the start of hurricane season.
Republicans set their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, eight months ago. Democrats, meanwhile, still have a long way to go before their invitations can be sent. Read more at The Associated Press. Kathryn Krawczyk
Thousands of patients were improperly prescribed a highly potent and restricted class of fentanyl, an opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, between 2012 and 2017, reports CNN.
A paper published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which was based on nearly 5,000 pages of Food and Drug Administration reports and other documents, described how nearly every party involved in the medical profession — from the FDA and drug companies to doctors and pharmacists — were in part culpable of negligence, allowing the medicine to fall into the wrong hands.
This class of fentanyl is meant only for cancer patients who are experiencing "breakthrough pain" and who have already been prescribed "around-the-clock opioids," writes CNN. Because of its potency, the FDA created a program to monitor prescription of the drug in 2011. The research, however, found that anywhere from 34.6 to 55.4 percent of patients, or about 12,900 people who received the treatments were not, in fact, cancer patients, and were "opioid-nontolerant" or prescribed the drug for conditions such as arthritis. Fentanyl was involved in about 28 percent of drug overdose deaths in 2016, more than any other drug.
"The prescribing of this medicine was supposed to be closely monitored and contained but was not," G. Caleb Alexander, a senior author of the study and director of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said, per CNN. "What we found was that several years after the program was started, there were alarming deficiencies identified, and yet little was done by the FDA and drug manufacturers to effectively address these problems." Tim O'Donnell