White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cursed and screamed at White House counsel Don McGahn amid the fallout from domestic abuse allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, according to a new report.
Sanders informed McGahn that she would not represent the White House any longer unless she received more information on Porter as part of the conflict that was heard by more than a dozen other staffers, the Washington Post reports.
The disagreement, which occurred in February, ended after Sanders did get the information she wanted, and Sanders continued answering questions from reporters about Porter.
In February, the Daily Mail published a report claiming Porter called his second wife a “fucking bitch” while they were on their honeymoon and grabbed her naked out the shower on one occasion. Another report was published claiming Porter punched and choked his first wife, publishing a photo of his first wife with a black eye.
After the reports came out, Porter announced he would be stepping down from his post, but denied the credibility of the abuse allegations.
Although the White House has offered several different accounts about how the allegations were handled, the Trump administration claimed that no senior officials were aware of the allegations until Porter resigned.
However, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating how Porter received a security clearance given the allegations, was sent a letter last month from the FBI that claims that agency provided a “partial report” to White House counsel Don McGahn that “contained derogatory information,” including the allegations of spousal abuse, on Porter.
The episode with McGahn wasn’t the last time Sanders was left in the dark.
Sanders admitted this week she was not familiar with President Trump’s reimbursement to personal lawyer Michael Cohen for a payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
“The first awareness I had was during an interview last night,” Sanders told reporters Thursday.
The revelation was first made Wednesday by Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined Trump’s legal team, and appeared to contradict statements previously made by Trump. Just last month, Trump said he had no knowledge of the payments to Daniels.
Sanders maintained that she was not “blindsided” by Giuliani’s disclosure.
“I’m not a part of the legal team and wouldn’t be part of those discussions,” she said Thursday.
