It goes without saying that the White House is going through some snags following the previous two weeks that have been ridden with cluttered messages, departures of senior aides and in-house wrangles between the president and his top officials. It can be seen that Trump is facing an erosion of trusted advisors and staff at the White House as turnover swells.
Its latest predicament is the Communication Director Hope Hicks’ announcement on Wednesday that she will be leaving her post soon.
Events That Rocked the White House
Last month, a top aide to Trump’s administration, Rob Porter resigned amid domestic violence accusation when his two ex-wives came out to speak about their experiences while married to Porter. Porter worked closely with John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff as well as the president. During his time at the White House, Trump acknowledged his exemplary work and stated that even as he resigned from his post, he will have a bright future elsewhere. Kelly defended Porter and intimated that the accusations leveled against Porter may be fabricated. Kelly changed his mind after a photo of one of Porter’s ex-wives was leaked to the media showing her black eye. Kelly said that the White House does not condone domestic violence.
Trump and Kelly’s comments seemed to worsen the situation as both Democrats and majority of Americans questioned their sentiments amid the MeToo campaign. The saga put the spotlight on the White House for hiding their employees’ transgressions. It is the task of the chief of staff to initiate background checks for high profile employees especially those working directly with the president. The White House claimed that Porter’s background check was still ongoing by the time he resigned. The move was to try and cover up the allegations that the administration knew about Porters transgressions but was still kept in the office. When the spotlight was turned to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, it came clean and stated that it concluded its investigations on Porter and handed the file to the White House in January, a month before Porter’s allegations were brought to light.
Recently, Hope Hicks was called upon by the House Intelligence Committee to answer some questions in regards to the committee’s probe into links between Trump’s campaign and the Russian meddling with the 2016 presidential elections. Hicks has been in the center of all Russian probes including Robert Mueller’s team and the Senate Intelligence Committee because of her closeness to the president. Nothing incriminating was found against Hicks but her abrupt announcement on Wednesday shocked many.
The events may have shaken the White House and it is unlikely that Trump may be able to find other trusted aides to put by his side.
