Rob Porter Worked at Highest Levels of the Trump White House From Day One – Yet His Background Check ‘Was Not Completed’
How long does an FBI background check take? How long until someone has to say “you’re fired,” or “we’re just going to ignore this”? And who did?
Rob Porter is or was the White House Staff Secretary who resigned or was terminated on Wednesday and may or may not still be working for the Trump Administration.Â
Those are just some of the “facts” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah shared with reporters Thursday afternoon at a press briefing originally scheduled for 1:00 PM that did not begin until nearly three hours later.
The White House Staff Secretary is one of the top positions in the White House. As the Staff Secretary Rob Porter was responsible for literally every document President Trump saw.
Porter “worked closely with Trump, often accompanying him on official travel,” USA Today explained. “He’s even credited with helping craft Trump’s State of the Union address. As staff secretary, Porter is responsible for the flow of presidential paperwork around the West Wing and to the president’s desk. The job is an important gatekeeper to the Oval Office, ensuring that executive orders, decision memos, bills, nominations and other actions are thoroughly vetted before reaching the president.”
Someone with that level of access, both to the president himself and to highly classified, likely top secret memos should have a top level background check completed before they begin work, right?
Not in the Trump administration.
Porter, as most know at this point, was accused by both his ex-wives of domestic abuse. Violent domestic abuse. Graphic and disturbing photos included.
The FBI knew of the allegations, and the White House had to have known, before a bombshell article in The Daily Mail exposed the accusations, including many details, was published Tuesday.
Here’s how the White House responded to the Rob Porter scandal Thursday.
“The allegations made against Rob Porter, as we understand them, involve incidents long before he joined the White House. Therefore, they are best evaluated through the background check process,” Raj Shah told reporters in a prepared statement he read from the press room podium.
Remember Shah’s second sentence for a bit.Â
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