General disgust
‘Abuser’ case puts Kelly on thin ice
WHITE HOUSE chief of staff John Kelly was installed to curtail the chaos, defuse the drama and straighten out an unruly West Wing hampered by a constant stream of distractions.
But the retired Marine general has found himself at the center of more than one crisis in the past seven months and now faces new pressure as questions swirl about his defense of an ex-aide accused of abusing his two ex-wives.
The uproar over that, and a speechwriter who also quit after reports of domestic violence became public, has led to calls for Kelly’s resignation — an offer he has reportedly made. Experts question how much longer he’ll stay by President Trump’s side.
The aftershocks of White House staff secretary Rob Porter and speechwriter David Sorensen’s resignations reverberated amid concerns about access to classified information and how long senior staff knew about Porter’s exes’ claims of violent abuse.
Porter worked closely with Kelly and was a member of Trump’s inner circle. Trump says he only found out about the allegations over the past week.
Kelly’s mishandling of the situation has experts doubting he’ll last much longer in a White House renowned for high turnover. Trump has already begun floating possible replacements among advisers, according to multiple reports.
“If he makes it to 2019, either Trump has changed or John Kelly is Superman in a general’s outfit,” Scott Talan, a communications professor at American University, told the Daily News.
A West Wing shakeup seems likely, Talan added, noting reports that communication director Hope Hicks has been dating Porter and White House counsel Don McGahn knew of the allegations against the Oval Office gatekeeper since last January.
But Kelly, 67, took the brunt of the blame after releasing conflicting statements about the situation, praising Porter as a “man of true integrity and honor” and presenting staffers with a bogus timeline of events on Friday.
A day earlier, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah offered reporters a rare candid take on the situation.
“I think it’s fair to say we all could have done better over the last few hours or last few days in dealing with this situation,” he said.
Porter was reportedly encouraged by Kelly to keep his job, even after a graphic photo of one of his former spouses sporting a black eye was made public. The President fumed as scandal once again enveloped the White House, this time ensnaring the former Department of Homeland Security secretary he made his right-hand man.
The former four-star general offended many by claiming that a “lack of ability to compromise” led to the Civil War and defending Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as an “honorable man.”
Kelly also forcefully attacked a Florida congresswoman over insensitive remarks she said Trump made to a soldier’s grieving widow. He also drew condemnation for saying some immigrants were “too lazy to get off their asses” and register for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“Trump really doesn’t like anybody that gets into difficulty or trouble. And it’s pretty obvious that Kelly is in trouble,” said political psychologist Bart Rossi. A FORMER wife of ousted White House staff secretary Rob Porter said she was “floored” after President Trump defended her exhusband despite domestic violence accusations against him. “Everyone wants to talk about how Trump implied I am not to be believed. As if Trump is the model of kindness and forgiveness,” Jennie Willoughby, 39, wrote in a Time essay published Sunday. “Thankfully, my strength and worth are not dependent on outside belief — the truth exists whether the President accepts it or not.” Willoughby (photo) said she agreed with a friend’s assessment that Trump had called her a liar when he praised Porter and declared Porter’s innocence Friday following his resignation amid the abuse allegations. The next day, the President tweeted “lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation.” Willoughby, Porter’s second wife, said Porter began verbally abusing her within the first two weeks of their marriage in 2009.