The resignation of a quiet but powerful West Wing aide is raising all sorts of questions. Rob Porter, who issued a statement Wednesday saying he would be leaving his position as staff secretary to President Trump, has been credibly accused by both of his ex-wives of abusive behavior. It’s not clear when Porter will officially leave his employment, though he did not attend the Wednesday morning staff meeting at the White House.
CNN reports that chief of staff John Kelly and others in the West Wing were aware of the allegations of abuse against Porter months before the initial Daily Mail story that broke Tuesday night. Kelly in an initial statement called Porter a “man of true integrity and honor.” Two White House sources, one a former aide and the other a current one, expressed to me their surprise about the Porter allegations. CNN also reports President Trump just learned of the allegations this week.
In his statement, Porter denies the claims from his first wife, Colbie Holderness, that he punched her in the face 15 years ago on a trip to Italy. He also said he took photographs of Holderness with a black eye and that the “reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described.” Holderness says she demanded he take the photos, which she provided to the Intercept along with her correspondence with the FBI during Porter’s background check prior to his White House employment, and that they represented years of physical and mental abuse from Porter. His second wife, Jennifer Willoughby, has also alleged abusive behavior and filed for a temporary protective order against Porter back in 2010. Read more of the details here.
What do the White House and President Trump think of the accusations, in light of Porter’s resignation? Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at her Wednesday briefing shortly after his statement was issued that Porter “has been effective in his role as staff secretary, and the president and chief of staff have had full confidence and trust in his abilities and his performance.” Asked why the president would accept Porter’s resignation, Sanders said it was a “personal decision that Rob made” and that “he was not pressured” to resign. She also said she had not spoken with Trump about the photographs of Holderness.
And in a new statement Wednesday evening, Kelly said he was “shocked by the new allegations released today against” Porter. The chief of staff continued: “There is no place for domestic violence in our society. I stand by my previous comments of the Rob Porter that I have come to know since becoming Chief of Staff and believe every individual deserves the right to defend their reputation. I accepted his resignation earlier today and will ensure a swift and orderly transition.” That all suggests Porter will be leaving the White House sooner rather than later—perhaps, as the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman reports, as early as Thursday.
One More Thing—Sanders would not respond to whether or not Porter had a security clearance, citing a policy of not disclosing any information about such clearances. “Consistent with the practice of past administrations, issues related to an individual’s suitability are reviewed through a thorough and lengthy background check process. Background checks involve a complex investigation run by intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” she said.
I’m told it’s likely Porter was extended a temporary security clearance that would have allowed him to conduct his job as staff secretary, which consisted primarily of controlling the paperflow into the Oval Office. But it’s also highly unlikely Porter was handling documents with sensitive intelligence or national security information. Trump receives such information in the President’s Daily Briefing, which is handled by the Director of National Intelligence, or in direct briefings from senior intelligence officials.
Photo of the Day
James Mattis answers questions during the daily White House briefing February 7, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
On the President’s Schedule—It’s an early Thursday morning for President Trump, who attends the National Prayer Breakfast at 8 a.m. shortly after a brief bilateral meeting with the Guatemalan president. After individual meetings with the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs in the afternoon, Trump will meet with former secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
With another government shutdown looming, lawmakers in the Senate on Wednesday struck a bipartisan two-year budget deal that would dispense with current budget caps and increase federal funding for domestic and military spending. But while the president himself applauded the deal, the White House cautioned that Trump would “need to see what’s in the final bill.”
“We would like to move forward on this front,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said when asked whether Trump supported the House passing the Senate deal. “Again, we want to see the final components. But yes, we’re supportive, primarily because it meets several of the things that we laid out, including ending the crisis budgeting, and also helps meet the needs of the military and defense spending as were laid out by General Mattis.”
It now falls to House Speaker Paul Ryan to try to pass the deal through the House, where he will need to massage conservatives bristling at the budget’s price tag. “America will be safer and stronger because of this agreement,” Ryan said Wednesday.
The agreement signifies a clear Republican win in at least one area: there’s no immigration deal in the bill. Democrats have for months attempted to use budgetary leverage to force through legislation that would grant legal status to alien residents brought to America illegally as children, which Republicans have refused to allow without serious Democratic concessions on border security and tightening legal immigration. Congressional leaders and the White House hope to pass an immigration deal by March 5, the date the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program sunsets.
Column of the Day—Matthew Walther at The Week: “The Sriracha hot sauce guy is an American hero”
The Pentagon is currently considering plans for making a European-style military parade through Washington a reality, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday. “We’ve been putting together some options. We’ll send them up to the White House for a decision,” Mattis said. “The president’s respect, his fondness for the military, I think, is reflected in him asking for these options.”
The Washington Post first reported on the parade plans Tuesday night. Trump has spoken publicly about his desire to throw a military parade, and he reportedly brought the idea up in a January 18 meeting with Defense Department officials at the Pentagon.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday the parade was in the “early discussion phases.” “Nothing has been decided or locked in stone,” she said. “It’s something the president is looking at—not just a way that he can, but that the entire country can come together and show support and honor our military.”
My colleague Ethan Epstein has a devastating analysis of what’s happened to this year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea: “What should have been a celebration of South Korea’s titanic cultural, economic, and political achievements is degenerating into an event that will instead normalize the barbarous North Korean regime that wants to destroy the South.” Here’s more:
Song of the Day—“Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(Again)” by Wilco
