White House revises fact pattern on Porter
WASHINGTON — The White House changed its story Tuesday about how it handled allegations of spousal abuse against Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned in disgrace last week, as members of President Donald Trump’s team conceded that as long ago as last summer the FBI had told White House career officials — but not, the Trump team said, top advisers in the West Wing — about problems in Porter’s background check.
The White House revised its version of events after testimony on Capitol Hill from FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted earlier and shifting claims from the West Wing.
At a previously scheduled Senate hearing Tuesday about threats against the United States, Wray, in response to a question about Porter, said the FBI had given the White House final results in January of its background investigation into the former staff secretary. Wray’s account was directly at odds with previous assertions by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, and other White House officials who said Porter’s background check was still underway when the domestic violence allegations from his two former wives came to light last week in news reports.
Wray’s words strongly suggested that Porter had been allowed to continue serving in his influential post in the West Wing long after officials had received word of the troublesome accusations. Wray’s testimony also raised questions about the credibility of Trump’s most-senior advisers and the degree of tolerance they may have shown to a colleague apparently eager to cover up a past.
According to Wray, the FBI updated the White House three times in 2017 — in March, July and November — about Porter’s background check as it progressed. Wray did not disclose the information that was given to the White House at those times, but according to two people briefed on the matter, the FBI first provided the White House in July with a rundown of the spousal abuse allegations the bureau had uncovered against Porter.
In November, the FBI provided the White House with additional information about the allegations.
Sanders insisted Tuesday that senior West Wing officials had not learned about the allegations against Porter until they surfaced in The Daily Mail because the FBI gave the information to the White House Personnel Security Office, which handles security clearances.
But several senior officials, including chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn, were aware of the broad allegations against Porter for months, officials said.
The FBI does not make recommendations about whether to grant or deny a security clearance, officials said, leaving the determination up to the employee's agency, in Porter's case, the White House.
The White House has refused to divulge the number of staff members who still do not have full clearances, though the list includes Jared Kushner, the president's senior adviser and son-in-law. A senior administration official said as many as two dozen senior officials don't hold permanent clearances. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.