The FBI warned the White House of former Staff Secretary Rob Porter's abuse allegations in three separate reports months before he resigned, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Porter resigned in February after two of his former wives publicly alleged that he had physically abused them. The White House claimed that no senior officials knew about the allegations until the week of his departure, but documents reviewed by the Times show that the FBI gave White House Counsel Don McGahn a report that "contained derogatory information" back in March 2017.

A former federal law enforcement official said that the abuse allegations were included in the report, which the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is reviewing in order to determine how Porter was given high-level security clearance despite abuse claims. The FBI reportedly reached out to the White House about Porter a second time, in July 2017, and a third time in November 2017.

The Times report casts doubt on the previous explanation from the White House about Porter's employment. At the time of Porter's resignation, officials claimed that the report they received in March didn't include anything about spousal abuse. One White House official insisted to the Times that McGahn never saw the July report and explained that lower-level staffers must have failed to pass it along to the "right people." Read more at The New York Times. Summer Meza

Protesters tore down a statue of a Confederate soldier Monday night on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Silent Sam was erected in 1913, a gift from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In a statement, the university said there was a crowd of about 250 protesters, and a small group brought Silent Sam down, adding: "Tonight's actions were dangerous, and we are very fortunate that no one was injured. We are investigating the vandalism and assessing the full extent of the damage." Gov. Roy Cooper's (D) official Twitter account posted a message saying he "understands that many people are frustrated by the pace of change and he shares their frustration, but violent destruction of public property has no place in our communities."

For years, students, alumni, and faculty members have been calling for the removal of the controversial statue. CBS News reports that recently, UNC Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith said "neither UNC-Chapel Hill nor the UNC system have the legal authority to unilaterally relocate the Silent Sam statue," and there was a meeting scheduled for Wednesday in the state Capitol to discuss the monument. Catherine Garcia

What's old is new again, with MTV announcing that a reboot of The Hills is in the works.

The Hills, a spinoff of the classic teen reality show Laguna Beach, aired on MTV from 2006 to 2010. A promo for The Hills: New Beginnings aired during Monday night's VMAs, and several of the show's stars — Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Audrina Patridge, Jason Wahler, Justin Bobby Brescia, Stephanie Pratt, and Frankie Delgado — were at the ceremony, posing together on the red carpet.

The Hills: New Beginnings will focus on their lives in Los Angeles now, featuring their children, spouses, and friends. Two Hills stars were notably absent on Monday night: Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari, who now has her own reality show, E's Very Cavallari.

A person close to Conrad told People she's content with her life as a new mom, wife, and fashion designer, and although she was the star of both Laguna Beach and The Hills, she won't appear on the reboot. "She's in a different place in her life," the friend said. "But she wants everyone to enjoy themselves. She wishes everyone the best." The Hills: New Beginnings will premiere in 2019. Watch the way-too-short promo below. Catherine Garcia

There are a couple of theories on why President Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan.

Two White House officials told The Washington Post that Trump viscerally hates Brennan and believes targeting him made the president look strong and decisive, adding that Trump has the paperwork ready to hit other officials tied to the Trump-Russia investigation. Four sources close to Trump told Axios that Trump discovered, thanks to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), that he could revoke security clearances unilaterally, like issuing pardons and signing executives orders, and he's enjoying the thrill and instant gratification of another absolute power.

Another common theory is that Trump is trying to silence dissent within the intelligence community. But Trump's Twitter feed bolsters a theory by Eli Lake, who argued in Bloomberg that "far from trying to silence Brennan, Trump is elevating him. He wants to make Brennan the face of the so-called resistance. This is the Trump playbook. Why do you think he keeps tweeting about Maxine Waters?" Trump views Brennan as "a perfect adversary," Lake says, because he distracts from Trump's other scandals, represents the so-called "deep state" Trump rails against, and makes "an easy political target."

Trump has been tweeting about Brennan all weekend and throughout Monday, but since he moved against him last week, basically the entire intelligence and foreign policy community not currently working for Trump has publicly criticized the president and his politicization of national security. The first dissent was from retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and then more than a dozen CIA chiefs and deputy chiefs from every administration dating back to Ronald Reagan's signed their own statement, followed by 60 prominent former CIA analysts and officials, and 177 other former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials released their own letter on Monday. You can read all their names and titles at The Washington Post. Peter Weber

Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart got Monday night's 2018 MTV VMAs started with a good old fashioned roast, targeting everyone from DJ Khaled to Camila Cabello to President Trump.

"We are live coast to coast right now," Hart said. "I'm looking at this like it's game day people, but don't worry, at this game you guys are allowed to kneel. You can do whatever the hell you want, there's no old white guy here to stop you."

After a herpes joke aimed at the cast of Jersey Shore, Hart picked on rappers Lil Pump and Lil Xan, also known as the "reasons your 12-year-old cousin wants a face tattoo. Stop writing on your goddamn face. Stop writing on your face. It's stupid. You're not going to get a job if this s—t don't work out. Stop it." Then, it was back to Trump. "You never know what's going to happen at the VMAs," Hart said. There's "bad language" and people who "run to the bathroom and send out crazy tweets. It's basically like your typical day at the White House. In your face, Trump! Suck it." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

A famous face came to the rescue of two goats found Monday running amok on train tracks in Brooklyn.

Page Six reports that former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, a supporter of Farm Sanctuary, picked the goats up from New York City's Animal Care and Control and brought them to the organization's shelter in upstate New York. No one knows where the runaway goats came from, but they were discovered playing between the Fort Hamilton Parkway and New Utrecht stops on the N line in Borough Park.

Stewart and his wife, Tracey, have a sanctuary on their farm in New Jersey, and have adopted a bull who escaped from a slaughterhouse in Queens and a horse that was abused in Pennsylvania. Catherine Garcia

Earlier this month in Texas, Border Patrol agent Adrian Anzaldua arrested a smuggler who was holding 78 undocumented immigrants inside a trailer, but that's not the only thing about him that impressed President Trump.

During an event honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, Trump urged Anzaldua to share his story. "Come here, you're not nervous right?" Trump said. "Speaks perfect English."

It wasn't his only hiccup; Trump also repeatedly referenced the "CBC," but he wasn't talking about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or the Congressional Black Caucus — he meant to say "CBP." Throughout the event, Trump called the agents "great patriots," professed his "love" for them, and said those who are want to see ICE abolished "have no courage, they have no guts, just big loudmouths. We don't want to put up with that." Catherine Garcia

Over the last several days, White House Counsel Don McGahn's attorney has assured President Trump's legal team that McGahn never told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators that Trump engaged in any wrongdoing, The Washington Post reports.

On Saturday, The New York Times published a report that Trump's lawyers knew very little about what McGahn told the special counsel during his first interview in November and in two subsequent meetings. Several people with knowledge of the matter told the Post that McGahn's attorney, Bill Burck, sent Trump's legal team an email that stated, "He did not incriminate him," and also shared that McGahn said he did not see Trump commit any crimes and if he had, McGahn would have resigned.

Burck did stress that McGahn is just one witness out of many, and he has no idea what other people told Mueller. Trump's former lawyers, John Dowd and Ty Cobb, urged McGahn to speak with Mueller last year, even though he thought they should claim attorney-client privilege, the Post reports. Dowd and Cobb believed that by cooperating with Mueller, the investigation would finish faster and it would keep Trump from having to answer Mueller's questions himself. Catherine Garcia