The US President broke his silence on Wednesday when he announced his position on domestic violence amid allegations that the White House knew of Rob Porter’s transgressions and still kept him employed. Rob Porter was the White House Staff Secretary and a top aide to Trump before he resigned. In his press statement in the Oval Office, Trump declared that he was against domestic abuse.
Speculation to Why the President Broke His Silence
The move to speak up could be because of public relation pressure to remedy a situation the White House brought upon itself. When Porter’s allegation surfaced, Trump, John Kelly the White House Chief of Staff and Hope Hicks, the White House Communication Director defended Porter. It implied that they did not believe the ex-wives’ accusations against Porter. Kelly changed his opinion after photo evidence of Porter’s ex-wife emerged in news agencies. Hope is also implicated to be having a relationship with Porter, a bad stain for the White House.
The last straw is the FBI’s revelation during a Senate Select Intelligence Committee Congressional hearing. The FBI Director, Christopher Wray stated to the panel that Porter’s background check was concluded in January, a month before Porter resigned and his file surrendered to the White House. He added that he included findings to Porter’s domestic abuse allegations in the report. The White House had previously and officially told the public that Porter’s security clearance was still ongoing by the time he had resigned. It did this in a bid to quiet down speculations of the White House’s involvement in covering up indiscretions of its employees.
Trump’s Remarks on Domestic Violence
The President in the Oval office with reporters stated that he is totally opposed to domestic violence and that everybody at the White House knew that. He reiterated that he was opposed to any form of domestic abuse and because everybody knew it, he had no reason to say it. His sentiments seemed to give an explanation for his long silence since the scandal began.
John Kelly was conspicuously missing from the room and previous White House public forums. The Democrats accused Kelly of shielding Porter because he was aware of the allegations before they came public. A source close to Trump and not at liberty to speak on the matter publicly stated that the President was not happy with his Chief of Staff. Trump remarked that John let the Porter scandal get out of hand therefore negatively portraying the President and White House as incompetent. The source added that Trump has already floated names for replacement.
