White House says background check for Rob Porter was never completed

Show Caption Hide Caption Rob Porter's ex-wives detail alleged abuse and rage White House staff secretary Rob Porter, part of President Trump's inner circle, resigned from his position after accusations of abuse from his ex-wives.

WASHINGTON – White House officials refused to explain Thursday why Chief of Staff John Kelly and others allowed Rob Porter to stay in his high-profile job even after his security clearance was held up over allegations of domestic abuse by two ex-wives.

"The truth must be determined, and that was what was going on with Rob Porter," White House spokesman Raj Shah said of the former White House staff secretary. "His background investigation was ongoing. He was operating on an interim security clearance. His clearance was never denied, and he resigned."

Under fire for allowing Porter to stay in his job months after learning of a security clearance problem, the White House took the relatively unusual step Thursday of discussing the background check process during a news briefing.

Shah told reporters that the accusations against Porter "involve incidents long before he joined the White House" and that he has repeatedly denied them.

"That doesn't change how serious and disturbing these allegations are," Shah said. "They're upsetting, and the background check investigates both the allegations and the denials."

The spokesman would not say when Kelly and others learned of the abuse allegations in which Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby accused Porter of physical and emotional abuse. Shah said White House officials did not know the "full nature" of the claims – including pictures of Holderness with a black eye – until Wednesday, right before they accepted Porter's resignation.

Before then, Porter was operating on an interim security clearance.

Given seemingly conflicting White House statements in recent days, Shah said it's fair to say "we all could have done better" dealing with the situation.

Much of the criticism is directed at Kelly, who has made equivocal statements in recent days about his former aide. As Porter announced his resignation mid-day Wednesday, Kelly issued a supportive statement calling him "a man of true integrity and honor." Hours later, after pictures surfaced showing one of Porter's ex-wives with a black eye, Kelly issued a more critical statement saying he "was shocked" by "the new allegations released today."

While Kelly said in that second statement that "there is no place for domestic violence in our society," he added that "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."

And while aides initially said Porter would stay on temporarily for the transition to a new staff secretary, he exited the building on Thursday.

Trump, who was upset by the allegations against a top aide, retains confidence in Kelly and other high-ranking officials, Shah said.

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The White House comments on Porter's background check left some lawmakers dissatisfied.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Porter "an accused domestic abuser (who) had access to America’s secrets," yet was "vulnerable to blackmail and without a background check or security clearance."

"Chilling lapses in security and background clearance process shown by Rob Porter’s access to classified info," Blumenthal said. "White House indifference, on full display at today’s press briefing, should outrage and frighten everyone."

Chilling lapses in security and background clearance process shown by Rob Porter’s access to classified info. White House indifference, on full display at today’s press briefing, should outrage and frighten everyone. — Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) February 8, 2018

In his resignation statement, Porter himself said "these outrageous allegations are simply false."

Porter acknowledged taking 15-year-old photos of the ex-wife with a black eye, but "the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described." He did not explain how.

Vice President Pence, traveling in Japan en route to the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea, declined to discuss the Porter predicament. "We'll comment on any issues affecting White House staff when we get back to Washington," Pence told reporters.

While the position that Porter held is usually seen as administrative – controlling the flow of paperwork to the president’s desk – staff secretaries also play an important policy role by coordinating with other top aides on recommendations to the president.

After Kelly took over as chief of staff in late July, he tapped Porter to help him re-organize the presidential office. Porter frequently traveled aboard Air Force with Trump, become a highly influential though low-profile aide.

Aides credited Porter as one of the chief architects of Trump’s State of the Union address last week, helping to decide which legislative proposals did or didn’t make it into the speech.

Porter was one of 22 top-tier assistants to the president making the maximum salary of $179,700 last year.

Like all White House jobs, the job requires a security clearance. Porter had been operating on a temporary clearance, Shah confirmed Thursday.

Unlike military and national security officials at the White House, who have a security clearance from the Defense Department or intelligence community, civilian officials receive their security clearances from the White House itself. The Office of Security, a component of the Executive Office of the President, makes the final determination on security clearances based on background investigations conducted by the FBI.

Those investigations aren’t intended as a moral character test, but rather try to determine whether a government official handling state secrets might be susceptible to blackmail or bribery.

And Porter’s first wife said she told the FBI that she believed Porter could indeed be blackmailed. "“I thought by sharing my story with the FBI he wouldn’t be put in that post,” Holderness told the Washington Post.

A Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, Porter came recommended to the White House on the strength of a resume that included stints with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and his two home-state senators, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch of Utah, also Republicans. His father, Roger Porter, was an economic adviser to President George H.W. Bush and now teaches at Harvard, where he’s a top scholar on presidential decision-making.

Porter also had some early missteps in his tenure — including a executive order banning refugees that the staff secretary hadn't thoroughly vetted with the Department of Homeland Security or Justice Department. Trump has since revised that order several times.

A USA TODAY report last February found that five executive orders the staff secretary sent to the Federal Register for official publication were different from those released to the press – leading to a rare correction of the record.

More: White House posts wrong versions of Trump's orders on its website

Staff secretaries are usually low-profile and obscure, but some of them – David Gergen under Reagan, John Podesta under Clinton and Harriet Miers under George H.W. Bush – went on to higher-profile jobs.

Porter was unusually visible – in part because of his role in Trump’s frequent signing-ceremony photo opportunities.