White House officials express regret in how they handled abuse accusations against staff secretary
WASHINGTON — White House officials conceded Thursday that they regretted the way they handled accusations against Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned Wednesday after two former wives publicly accused him of abusing them. But they refused to provide any information about when President Donald Trump’s most senior advisers first learned about the episodes.
John Kelly, chief of staff, and other senior officials had issued statements defending him Wednesday.
Mr. Porter left behind questions about whether Mr. Kelly and other members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle had been willing to ignore episodes of domestic violence to protect an aide who had denied they ever happened and about how Mr. Porter could have continued in his job when it was known that his permanent high-level security clearance had been held up. Mr. Porter’s job included presenting Mr. Trump with classified documents.
“I think it’s fair to say we all could have done better dealing with this over the last few days,” Raj Shah, deputy White House press secretary, said.
Mr. Porter was trusted by Mr. Kelly as a crucial ally in bringing order and discipline to the White House, and he was regarded as an even-tempered check on the volatile tendencies of the president and some of his aides.
Mr. Shah said Mr. Porter was serving in the White House with a temporary security clearance while law enforcement officials continued to conduct a background check.
Mr. Shah said Mr. Trump only learned of the allegations from media reports on Tuesday night and that Mr. Kelly did not become “fully aware” of the alleged abuse until Wednesday.