The White House keeps spinning, but it seems increasingly clear the dustup over Rob Porter’s resignation boils down to someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. not taking his ex-wives’ allegations of domestic violence as seriously as they should have.
Whether it was because that person or people trusted Porter, or because they generally approach such allegations with either skepticism or apathy is yet unknown. But the allegations are credible and disturbing. Both women claim to have relayed those allegations to the FBI, and the FBI director testified under oath this week that his department reported its findings on Porter to the White House on several occasions. That means someone in the White House almost certainly saw the allegations, and Porter remained gainfully employed only until they leaked into the press. If officials had good reason (beyond Porter’s downplaying and denials) to believe the allegations were false, from the FBI or other sources, those reasons almost certainly would have made their way into media reports by now.
Setting aside the matter of Porter’s vulnerability to blackmail, herein lies an instructive example of why credible domestic violence allegations deserve serious consideration, no matter how upstanding and decent the man accused seems to be.
Neglecting to take such allegations seriously puts a potential abuser in close and constant contact with female staffers, and in Porter’s case allowed his aura of respectability as a top aide to remain in good standing. Porter was reportedly dating communications director Hope Hicks. Perhaps the most important reason for employers to approach domestic violence allegations with the requisite seriousness is to protect women in any given workplace from a potential abuser. That’s not to infantilize women, but to say employers should minimize the risk of future violence and not allow credibly accused abusers to work alongside their female staffers, who have no knowledge of the accusations.
For the White House of all places to set such a poor example for employers around the country is especially unfortunate. But it has at least provided an instructive example of what not to do and why not to do it, from which we all can learn.
