The White House’s defense of how it handled Rob Porter—the former staff secretary who was axed after it came to light that two ex-wives alleged he physically abused them—wasn’t built to last. Over the course of the last week, administration officials have steadfastly argued that they—and particularly embattled Chief-of-Staff John Kelly—acted quickly and decisively when presented with evidence of Porter’s abuse. Sympathetic talking heads made the rounds on cable news and the Sunday shows arguing that, before being shown the door, Porter was initially given the benefit of the doubt—and isn’t that what you would do if your cameraman were accused of something heinous, a doe-eyed Mick Mulvaney asked both Chris Wallace and Major Garrett.

It’s a simple exculpatory narrative: The White House responded to allegations of abuse the way any responsible employer would. Even the delay in firing Porter is given a sympathetic sheen—Porter had been a reliable and respected member of their team and Kelly didn’t want to dump him over an unverified allegation. Then, when it was clear that Porter had deceived them about his past relationships, he was immediately fired.



The problem, as has been made clear repeatedly over the past several days, is that this narrative is clearly not accurate. We’ve since learned that the Trump administration arranged an off-the-record briefing with four journalists just hours after The Daily Mail published photographs of one of Porter’s ex-wives with a black eye. We’ve learned that not only did the FBI complete a background check of Porter—something that last Thursday Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said hadn’t happened—but that the administration was presented with the allegations against Porter months ago. Despite this, we’ve also learned that Porter was up for a promotion at the time of his firing.



The White House’s story was easily debunked—and yet they’ve stuck to it, even as more contradictory evidence emerges. All of this has created a kind of ur-scandal for the Trump White House, one that encompasses the administration’s singular ability to shoot itself in the foot while simultaneously highlighting a host of other Trumpian vices, all while relentlessly sticking with an obvious lie.



What little credibility the official White House line may have had on the matter evaporated on Tuesday when FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed the Senate Intelligence Committee. Asked by Senator Ron Wyden about the agency’s handling of Porter’s background check, Wray informed the committee that the FBI submitted a partial report in March and had initially concluded its look into Porter in July of last year—follow-ups were then done in November and January.

