kelly. so john kelly decided not to believe what the two women told the fbi. does that mean that john kelly decided that those two women committed the crime of lying to the fbi? did john kelly decide that those two women were the kind of women who would just sit there and commit the crime of lying to the fbi? does it mean rob porter lied to the fbi? is there a crime here? here's jennifer willby, rob porter's second wife, telling nbc's kristen welker about her conversations with the fbi. >> can you tell me what specifically you told them? >> i shared with them the details of my marriage. the same as have been in the interviews and articles that have come out. >> and one of the questions was, could he potentially be blackmailed. how did you answer that question? >> i actually had difficulty answering that question because i believe that the people who had the power to blackmail him would be women in personal relationships with him. so in short the answer could be maybe. >> is it possible that

kelly protected him. why did it take until now for kelly to distance himself and the white house from porter. >> that is overshadowing a big deal in congress. the senate and the house set to vote on a bipartisan budget deal to prevent the shutdown of the federal government tonight. house leader nancy pelosi said she will not agree unless there is a commit to meet about immigration next week. abby phillip is live at the white house. what's the latest, abby? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. there are new questions about the judgment of white house chief of staff john kelly after allegations emerged that his right-hand man rob porter was accused of domestic abuse and his marriages with two women. and kelly knew about those allegations tpaor months. and apparently did nothing about it. white house chief of staff john kelly expressing shock over what he calls, quote, new allegations of domestic abuse against white house staff secretary rob porter. but sources tell cnn that kelly learned of the accusations la

he praised john kelly when john kelly was named to the trump cabinet. now he says john kelly should resign. heartburn. no one burns on my watch! try alka seltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. ultra strength from alka seltzer. enjoy the relief. >>> tonight "the washington post" is reporting on the president's reaction to what has now been a week of crisis since the white house staffer rob porter was publicly accused by both of his former wives and a former girlfriend of being violent toward them, including giving his first wife colbie holderness a black eye with one punch. trump has privately expressed frustration with the week-long fallout, peppering aides and confidantes with questions about the media coverage and how the controversy is playing for him personally. of course that's what he is worried about. how is this playing for him personally? also tonight, cnn is reporting trump has been phoning allies in recent days to get their advice on how to handle

he praised john kelly when john kelly was named to the trump cabinet. now he says john kelly should resign. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. sucthey read more.have one thing in common. how do they find the time? ... with audible. audible has the world's largest selection of audiobooks. for just $14.95 a month... you get a credit good for any audiobook ... and you can roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them. audible members get free no hassle exchanges ... and use the mobile app to listen anytime, anywhere. start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. listening, is the new reading. text audio22 to five hund

kelly. kelly: justin trudeau involved in crash, how it happened, we will tell you next. the winter olympics are warming up frosty relationships between the two koreas, how washington is reacting to the latest developments? >> if north and south korea want to march together that's their decision, that's not my decision but i think any chance that we are looking at the saying this is just a newfound chapter of optimism, i think let's keep our expectations pretty tamped down. constipation and diarrhea can start in the colon and may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. only phillips' colon health has this unique combination of probiotics. it provides four-in-one symptom defense. it's your daily probiotic. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on t

kelly: overhauling the way security clearances are handed out in the white house this as kelly comes under fire for his handling of former staff secretary rob port whore is accused of of abusing his two exwives. >> white house chief of staff john kelly is overhauling thousand white house handles security clearance. kelly outlined the changes to the security process in a memo that begin, quote, the american people deserve a white house staff that meet it is highest standards and has been carefully vetted especially those who work closely with the president or handle sensitive national information. we should and in the future must do better. this after a week of criticism of kelly's handling of former white house staff secretary rob porter and how he remained working at the white house after security clearance investigation revealed months ago allegations of abuse from two exwives and now congress is investigating. >> i also want to know a former domestic violence prosecutor, how in the world with credible allegations can be fired especially in the white house. >> kelly directing fbi t

but you can't do that with john kelly because john kelly is highing. john kelly is afraid of stepping up to the microphone looking into those cameras and answering questions about what he knew and when he knew it and why he continued to fight for rob porter's job even after he saw the black eye photos. >> joining us now ruth marcus, deputy editorial page editor from the "washington post" and joyce vance, former u.s. attorney for the northern district of alabama and a professor at the university of alabama school of law, andness price spokesperson for the national security council and a former cia analyst. he's an msnbc national security analyst. ruth, i just want to get your reaction because this is a moving story with new elements coming out by the hour. your reaction about where this story stands tonight. >> well, the phrase fully aware is possibly the most maddening phrase i've ever heard here. if general kelly was not fully aware of the allegations against rob porter, it's only because he chose not to make himself fully aware because he heard somet

but you can't do that with john kelly because john kelly is highing. john kelly is afraid of stepping up to the microphone looking into those cameras and answering questions about what he knew and when he knew it and why he continued to fight for rob porter's job even after he saw the black eye photos. >> joining us now ruth marcus, deputy editorial page editor from the "washington post" and joyce vance, former u.s. attorney for the northern district of alabama and a professor at the university of alabama school of law, andness price spokesperson for the national security council and a former cia analyst. he's an msnbc national security analyst. ruth, i just want to get your reaction because this is a moving story with new elements coming out by the hour. your reaction about where this story stands tonight. >> well, the phrase fully aware is possibly the most maddening phrase i've ever heard here. if general kelly was not fully aware of the allegations against rob porter, it's only because he chose not to make himself fully aware because he heard somet

only john kelly did that. no other white house chief of staff in history has ever told such a poisonous lie about a member of congress or about a former president. and so we can no longer be surprised when john kelly opens his mouth and ugly prejudice and poison comes out as it did again today. there is not a shred of evidence now that john kelly has even the slightest bit more sympathy or understanding of the dreamers than donald trump has. there is not the slightest hint now that john kelly's heart is not as full of hatred as donald trump's is for all of the people that donald trump rages against, from mexicans, to muslims, to undocumented immigrants including children. if john kelly is more enlightened than donald trump, if he is more humane than donald trump, if he is a more decent person than donald trump, why has he never said one word while in the service of donald trump to show us in any small way that he is not exactly the same as donald trump? donald trump spews hatred and never apologizes. john kell

kelly protected him. amid this fire storm, we'll hear from president trump in just minutes when he speaks at the national prayer breakfast in washington. john kelly is with the president at that event. they traveled there together. >> will he mention that? probably not. but you could always be surprised. will the president take an opportunity of prayer to pray for the victims of domestic abuse, a form of torture that is underreported and underrepresented in this country. we'll see. the scandal over shadowing a major bipartisan agreement on capitol hill. senate leaders reaching a two-year budget deal could prevent a federal government from shutting down. that would happen tonight. but it is only half of congress. nancy pelosi, who represents the democrats in the house, says no votes from her caucus unless paul ryan commits to an immigration debate the way mitch mcconnell did, the gop senate leader. if he doesn't, she doesn't get that, she won't vote on the bill. we have abby philip live at white house. >>

what about john kelly? today is kelly's 199th day. kristen welker, how -- you heard mark short express/say the president has confidence. when a sports team owner says he has confidence, that doesn't mean he doesn't get fired the next day. >> he doesn't. we know the president is as frustrated as he has ever been with his chief of staff, not only because of the mishandling of the rob porter situation but because he's had several missteps. he referred to dreamers as lazy. that created a firestorm. the president is openly musing about replacing him with mick mulvaney. on the other hand, the one thing that might hold the president back, he doesn't want more drama in his white house right now. >> i want to tee up something you wrote, peggy. they thought the atlantic captured something, both porter and kelly being in the cross hairs in a scandal that exposes the white house, quote, adults. then you write this. you can't really black mail donald trump on personal conduct because nothing said about him would surprise or shock. mr. porter, howe

you have to question kelly's judgment. and, you know, people inside the white house say, look, many of them like kelly, some of them don't like kelly because he silos everything and keeps them away from the president. but one thing most people seem to agree on is that he doesn't have any political sense. and, you know, he doesn't understand -- >> political? gloria, listen. >> no, in terms of -- >> i don't want to be insulting. >> no, but i'm not saying on the abuse stuff, but i'm just saying, a priori, this is such a terrible thing, get rid of him. >> why is he even still there after all of this time? >> that's a good question. >> i want to get to jim. chief of staff, john kelly, we're talking about him. i want to read a statement from him. he said, rob porter is a man of true integrity and honor and i can't say enough good things about him. he just put out a new statement saying, i am shocked by the new allegations released, there is no place for domestic violence in our society, i stand by my previous comments of the rob

so the image bothered john kelly. the question is why the words of domestic abuse or wife beating didn't seem to absent an image? so let's go through the time line here. because kelly's assertion that the picture changed things don't seem to add up with the time line we have. 7:09 p.m. did the stories detail their allegations of abuse by porter. in response, the chief of staff, john kelly released a statement drafted with the help of communications director hope hicks who, and this is complicated but this is real life, people, currently in a romantic relationship with rob porter, saying, quote, rob porter is a man of integrity. he's a friend. a trusted professional. i'm proud to serve along side him. >> in the morning, 8:27 picture with the black eye. kelly statement is sent out again. this time to the press core. this actually came after porter had resigned. there were no changes, no amendment toss the statement. no comments about it being unacceptable. it wasn't until 9:30 last night, full 25 hours after that daily

that's an argument for kelly. the argument against kelly, we know donald trump hates negative press that he doesn't cause. this is, to mike's point, this is eight days or nine days of burying negative press that at least at the start he didn't cause. i would argue his tweet over the weekend inflamed things badly when he could have done something very different and more presidential. but in his mind this is john kelly's fault. i'm not sure -- those names you pointed out, cohen, mulvaney, mccarthy, these are people that at the moment have their stars risen in donald trump's universe. john kelly was one of those people once, too. i think mike touched on it earlier. the most important thing to remember here is that donald trump is extremely difficult to work for. it doesn't matter who the chief of staff is. anyone who believed that john kelly was fundamentally going to alter donald trump after reince priebus couldn't, is probably going to believe, if we just got mull vane any in there, everything would be okay. the sp

john kelly fought for rob porter's job. reports indicate that john kelly was actively fighting to save rob porter's job after all of these accusations became public, including the one punch black eye. because for john kelly, apparently, one punch isn't enough. one black eye photograph of one former wife of a white house official, was not enough for john kelly. that's why he fought today to save rob porter's job. wasn't enough. yesterday rob porter said -- he said this in response to the daily mail's first story, i will not comment about these matters beyond stating that many of these allegations are sand rous and simply false. that was yesterday. today, in announcing that he will give up that job and as the "new york times" is reporting, give up that job tomorrow, at the white house, after maybe a full day at the white house. rob porter issued this new statement saying this, these outrageous allegations are simply false. i took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago, and the reality behind them is nowhere close t

let's ask kelly. let's see, did you never discuss this with donald trump before just this week or last weak? i don't buy that for a minute, the way trump runs that white house. >> hope hicks is very, very close to donald trump. he's just like not interested -- he's very interested in the personal relationships of his staff. we've learned that over the years, right? so for me the problem is trump. >> okay, so for me, it's white house staffers have told me that the president didn't know and john kelly did. but, again, everybody's -- every source is motivated by something. >> and there's a lot of lying going on right now. so yamiche, let's say you take bill's take on this. that the president did know. was there a different way to handle this? because as stephanie and i have experienced from the business world, when people get in big trouble, it's usually not for the underlying thing. it's for the cover-up and the lies that go on. now trey gowdy is getting involved and he's going to get everybody's sworn

what's next for john kelly? >> that is really probably up to donald trump who as much as he said it a lot on tv doesn't really like to say you're fired directly to his staff and there's not a ton of obvious candidates to take general kelly's place. the real irony is if this domestic abuse rob porter scandal ends up with departure of john kelly is that it would be ousted for sort of the weirdest of reasons. i wrote over the weekend about john kelly as a kind of mini me of donald trump, the second worst person in the white house really. because as much as he was supposed to bring them all order, he's just really mirrored and exemplified some of donald trump's own worst instaincts an this last episode is just an example of that. we'll see what happens to him. i think one thing we know is it's going to be a white house in chaos whether he's there or not. >> no doubt about that. and of course we're going to see what happens this week. it's supposed to be infrastructure week at the trump white house. i suspect it's go

kelly with the person he pushed out to hire mr. kelly is yet another indication of how upside down mr. trump's world can be. in the west wing, various characters fall in and out of favor with such repid ti that it is never entirely clear who has the president's ear. i just said that! didn't i? >> thank you. yes. >> what are your thoughts on that? >> it doesn't surprise me. donald trump has a phone that is not monitored by kelly. he calls priebus all the time. they talk frequently. you know, i -- and i think obviously he used to talk to bannon almost every other day. and until his ex-communication after the michael wolfe book. i wouldn't be surprised if they're talking again soon. trump is a guy who again, you cannot manage him in that sense. he is going to talk to whom ever he wants to. and it will be interesting to see how this plays out with kelly because he's obviously in the dog house. >> i'm going to give you the last word here. this is -- i want to get this reporting in. this is cnn's m.j. lee reporting that porter's ex-wife

>> kelly, thank you so much. i just want to add while kelly was on the north lawn waiting to talk to us, we heard from one of our colleagues in the white house unit that the white house is pushing back this hour of an account from another news organization saying that general kelly has not offered his resignation over his handling of the rob porter -- >> this news organization suggesting he had? >> suggested he had expressed a willingness to resign. the white house press office, which we should add is not in the loop 100% of the time on all of donald trump's conversations, no offense, guys. is saying at this hour that is not true. that general kelly has not offered to resign. but i want to pull one thing out and i want to put this to you. i feel like in listening to kelly l. in reading the time lines that in watching the briefing at the podium, they are defining found out it was true, as putting their eyes on the pictures. so, they didn't think it was true when the employee himself said he was accused of domestic

kelly? kelly: thank you, rich. it was the picture that went viral in the first week of the olympics showing vice president mike pence sitting only feet away from the sister of north korea's dictator kim jong-un and basical basical ba . did pyongyang get what it wanted? plus a powerful winter storm is on the move. expected to bring heavy snow to millions of people. so let me get this straight, what did the groundhog say what did the groundhog say again? ♪ ♪ there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪ the future is for the unafraid. it's ok that everyone ignores it's fine. drive. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. woman: i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor

hope hicks and john kelly. he did not issue a statement like that for john kelly but for hope hicks, he did. white house staffers are saying the president loves hope hicks but they weren't calling around saying that about john kelly. john kelly has been his most trusted confidant in the white house. and she was reportedly dating rob porter, so she was very upset at these reports of porter's firing, so you could surmise in part the president's defense of porter comes from hope hicks being upset about the entire affair, much like he protected corey lewandowski during the campaign, hope hicks was also reportedly dating corey lewandowski during the campaign and was upset at those accusations against corey lewandowski. >> palace intrigue at a romantic level, i guess. stay right there, we'll be assessing what former white house aide omarosa said. >>> but up next, i'll speak with congressman g muman gallego. and the wolf huffed and puffed... like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to b

kelly? kelly: thank you, rich. it was the picture that went viral in the first week of the olympics showing vice president mike pence sitting only feet away from the sister of north korea's dictator kim jong-un and basical basical ba . did pyongyang get what it wanted? plus a powerful winter storm is on the move. expected to bring heavy snow to millions of people. so let me get this straight, what did the groundhog say again? and i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release it, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it comes in a once-weekly, truly easy-to-use pen. the pen where you don't have to see or handle a needle. and it works 24/7. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take trulicity if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, if you have mul

so i know that general kelly knows what's involved. he knows what the rules are about sexual assault, and he should have acted completely differently when he knew about his own staff acting in this way. >> counselor, anytime you're in new york please stop by and see us. >> thank you for the honor. >>> and coming up the united states is under attack, and why isn't that enough to make the white house act? we'll talk about that when we come back. >>> frankly, the united states is under attack. under attack by entities that are using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the united states. we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesman, and others means to influence and try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the united states. there should be no doubt that russia perceived that its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 u.s. mid-term elections as a potential target for russian influence operati

i think the thing with kelly she's exactly right. kelly is a traditionalist. much more than we realized when he came in. and there have been this series of instances over the course of his eight months or whatever where -- i think of it as like john kelly is total quality trumpism. he is all of the ideas and all of the -- all of the ideas how society should be structured who should be on top, who should be on the bottom, all this kind of stuff but he's disciplined which trump isn't. it makes him seem very different but in terms of how they see society should work, you see it in his ideas about immigration, lazy immigrants, you see it with that kind of like you know women are on a pedestal. that is not a vision of equality. let's put it that way. so it's very hard to figure. clearly they personally like him a lot. but people like people a lot and see them do terrible things and at least kind of say that's terrible but i still think he's a good guy. >> i don't think some of these people do realize it's terrible. >> i think you're right. you would expect they wou

>> he has confidence in general kelly. >> did general kelly offer to resign or not? there's been confusion in other reporting. did he unofficially offer to write the resignation letter but not officially hand it to him? what can you clear up? >> general kelly in my mind is an american hero. there are few families that have sacrificed more for our country. john kelly knows he serves the president and he will step aside any time the president doesn't want him to be there. but john kelly has not offered his resignation. john kelly has done an outstanding job. in the last four months we've seen 1.24 million americans get bonus or wage increase. we've seen isis flee over 100% of its territory that it had between iraq and syria is gone. general kelly is doing a great job. >> let me ask you about the memo and the decision by the white house to delay the release of the democratic memo or essentially not release this version of it. this is what you said before the release of the republican memo, you and a bunch of your colleagues. take a look. >> i do think that we typically

kel kelly, thank you very much. on thursday i asked raj shah about his time line of events, about what chief of staff john kelly knew and when. here's part of our exchange. >> there's been some reports about the chief of staff. he became fully aware about these allegations yesterday. >> the statement changed from john kelly yesterday morning to the statement yesterday evening. he said based on new allegations. but what changed yesterday absent a photograph in terms of new allegations? >> well, i think what i just referenced. the reports had additional allegations. they had more information. >> to be clear, what was so shocking that had changed. he said it was shocking. >> i think the full nature of the allegation. particularly, the images. >> joined by phil rucker and msnbc political analyst. with me in studio, hugh hewitt, anchor of his own show here on saturdays. phil, let me get right to you and react to what we heard from the president just moments ago. we heard the president still saying he was surprised by the

he was john kelly's right hand man. kelly is very much on the spot tonight. moments ago kelly issued a statement. it says, i was shocked by the new allegations released today against rob porter. there is no place for domestic violence in our society. 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. i accepted his resignation earlier today and will ensure a swift and orderly transition. i'm going to go back to the panel. before we do, i want to play a piece that jeff zeleny did. i want to play a piece that jeff zeleny did which kind of gives you a sense of the time line and specifics on the abuse allegations. before we go to that, i'm wondering when you read that statement, it doesn't seem like it's kind of a non-statement. he's not actually addressing any of the specifics. >> i mean he's addressing it more than he was before, i guess, right? >> true. >> the implication is that he just sort of found out about it. i mean that's sor

kelly? >> when you consider the border manner now, do you think there's personal feelings and relationships among the white house staff, collegial and friendship relationships that clouded the judgment on how this was handled? >> we have a number of statements that indicate the white house was prepared to defend rob porter based on initial accusations we heard about in his denial, and that was based on our experiences with rob porter, and so to answer your question, i think that the initial response was based upon that. >> did any rescue themselves from participating? >> the communications director rescued himself from some matters. >> let's take it back to the place where roeports of e-mails texts, and -- >> sure. >> from the podium, sarah said that those texts are evidence of political bias. now, everyone has opinions, so is the -- how is the view of the administration that persons who are not fans of the president should not be allowed to investigate him, and, also, can you point to any e

kelly is a different story. when you talk about whether he should go, perhaps in other situations a person who had done this would go. but what is behind door number three? >> that's a great point. scaramucci now among those on twitter saying kelly has to go. so consider the source, but he does still talk to people inside the white house. he's doing that on their behalf. this is people who work for john kelly and john kelly's boss at various moments undermining him, which is a hard way to run a railroad. to your point about people getting the attention here, here's a republican chairman of a republican committee in congress, the house oversight committee, saying i need to investigate the republican president's white house. i want to know who knew what, when. >> who knew what, when, and to what extent, and if you knew it in 2017 and the bureau briefed them three times, then how in the hell was he still employed? >> will the oversight committee be launching an investigation into this? >> we did last night. >> amen

what about john kelly? the white house insisting the president still has confidence in kelly despite reports of a replacement list being built. >>> on alert. america's top intel leaders laying out ongoing threats including one from a very familiar foe. >> russia perceived its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 u.s. midterm elections as a potential target. >> that's right, you heard him correctly. that is the fbi director saying the president has not asked them directly to stop russia's actions. weird, huh? no. >> not specifically directed by the president. >>> she's back. the stormy daniels story returns on valentine's day, what better holiday? i can't think of one. trump's personal lawyer says he paid a porn star 130 grand without trump or the campaign knowing. michael cohen, what did you pay her the 130 large for? raising many questions. why exactly is he paying her 130 grand? strange, isn't it? >>> all right. we're going to begin today at the white house where the trump administration may be r

ruth, the fact of keeping him on the job, don mcgahn must have told kelly, kelly had to know he didn't have a full clearance because there had to be moments when he couldn't enter the sit room so how does this happen? >> it happens when you have a white house and a chief of staff that is so desperate to have competent, capable people staffing the place and to -- so desperate to bring some order to the kay yot that i think general kelly walked into that i think you are willing to ignore and kind of not -- see no evil in the rob porter story. this notion that he wasn't fully aware. if he wasn't, it's only because he didn't want to be aware. if he didn't know, he should have known and i think it's a combination of the absolute imperative that he has felt to have some capable people in the place he was running and also, quite honestly, and this is from the man who told us that he longed for the days when women were sacred, an absolute failure, no matter what he says now, to understand the significance in a workplace context of domestic abuse allegations in your personal life. >> he had alr

the same goes for kelly. this whole myth that was a media created myth that he was the grown-up in the room, because he's a general, he's a man of honor and integrity. everyone respects his military service. it's admiral what he's been able to achieve as a man of the military. it's just a guy, he agrees with donald trump. he has the same ethos as donald trump. he agrees with him on immigrants on his take on them. this guy praised robert e. lee, praises the confederacy. i don't know why at this point we're surprised he stood by this guy. he's been chief of staff since last july. if the fbi informed the white house that this guy couldn't get a security clearance, the chief of staff would know that. >> senator, are you -- i feel like i lose my capacity to be shocked. i have to say i genuinely i'm shocked that this individual was given the job he was in that white house and then defended after it became public after they knew what he is alleged to have done. >> well, we have to remember that kelly had to know all

but also he began acting almost as a deputy chief of staff, really integral to the kelly -- kelly chief of staff -- >> and he was promoted. he became more important in the white house over the last several months and not less important and matt lewis when kelly learned more by reading the press and he knew a bunch of it already, not only did he not fire rob porter, he asked him to stay. and he put out a glowing endorsement of him. you call this extremely disappointing and political malpractice. these are two separate issues but explain our feelings on this. >> even after john kelly saw this photo of this poor woman and i think these are two highly credible women who are making very credible charges in this instance. even after john kelly saw that photo of his -- of porter's ex-wife, he still -- in a statement goes on to talk about how -- what a great -- other than the fact that he beats his wife, allegedly, he's a great guy. it is so tone deaf. it is political malpractice and i have to say i'm very disappointed. there was a hope when john kelly came in, he would do two things. number on

you see that with kelly now. he is now, when it's playing to everyone in the white house that they could not have mishandled this porter crisis any more than they did, kelly is still insisting they did everything right. to me that's the most trumpian thing he could possibly do. >> robert, let's talk about mr. mcgann, white house counsel. we had a former white house counsel on, but this guy's the current white house counsel. in your view, how much exposure and how much of a threat to his job in other words, has he got to deal with right now? >> based on my reporting, don mcgann is in a perilous position. it's not just because of the way he has handled rob porter, the former staff secretary. it's because he has long had tensions with jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, the daughter and senior adviser ivanka trump. there's a wing of the white house that general kelly and don mcgann are not part of, the jared kushner part of the white house. they have been frustrated with mcgann and they've often played to the

general kelly spoke up on behalf of. tell me first exactly what this marine was accused of. >> that's right. it's interesting to see how the charge sheet evolved. originally he was accused of abuse of sexual contact. that later got downgraded to an unduly relationship and then conduct unbecoming an officer. you can see he exchanged text messages with a junior marine, female corporal, calling her fun, sexy and intriguing. there were a lot of red flags and then there were some civilian charges at one point that were eventually withdrawn. there were a lot of red flags for this officer. >> so what was the relationship between general kelly and this officer, for him to come in as his character witness? what did he say on his behalf? >> this is particularly fascinating. general kelly is not in tomko's chain of command at the time and doesn't know him well. basically knows him socially and knows his reputation as a war fighter, deployed a bunch of times and basing what he's saying on that. i think that tells us quite a bit abou

that was enough for kelly. although he has seen no picture like the one you are looking at on the screen. at 7:30 that night edtold porter, you and i both know what has to be done here and he accepted porter's resignation. kelly called his deputy chief advising him of porter's resignation and gave porter permission to come in the next day to clear out his office. kelly hears about this as 6:30. he calls porter in. no police report, no restraining order. he tells porter, be gone within 40 minutes. kelly did what you would expect a leader to do. there was no excuse. no hesitation, no justification. he had to go. so for everyone who is looking for someone to blame, chill out. you want to blame someone, blame it batterer. he doesn't walk around with a scarlet letter or sign on his forehead that says, i beat women. he's cunning and clever, presenting himself as a charming individual who is a rhodes scholar with a harvard degree. you want to stop a four star general who makes a decision within 40 minutes because you

kelly bogged on him, the man threw a punch at kelly. kelly responded with a couple of punches himself. >> this happens every thursday. somebody's going to get their canteen happen. it's just a fact. it happens in jail. either you're strong or you're weak. you show any signs of weakness, someone's going to take your stuff from you. you don't, you stand up, you're respected, it spreads through jail. you can't take his stuff, he's not going to go for that. >> kelly is in jail on charges of carjacking, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. he has pled not guilty. >> i'm not the type of person to go out and look for trouble. i mean, my mama always told me, if you look for trouble, you'll find it. >> but kelly has been both accused and convicted of violent acts in the past. at the time of his latest arrest, he was out on bond on charges of assaulting a police officer, unlawful possession of a firearm, and criminal domestic violence, to which he has also pled not guilty. more significantly, when kelly was

in john kelly. >> the president is furious with john kelly and hope hicks. there's no doubt about it. >> but he's not actively searching for another chief of staff. >> you have to imagine somebody is called for this chief of staff job, what do they say to the president? what do they demand? how could he induce them to take it? >> as david said, the problem is the president. you want to say to these people are you willing to degrade your humanity and integrity and what you want to leave as a legacy. it's about what they want to project. if that's what gary cohn or somebody else -- >> there's always someone willing to say i owe it to my country, maybe i can have the impact others haven't. >> that's true in the job of chief of staff. you were getting to this point. john kelly has perhaps revealed himself. there's no question a dozen times a day over the last six months he's prevented a disaster. >> his hair is on fire and he's probably done a better job than we think. let's also all remember that despite all the outrage and moral concern about this white house,

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lied to kelly and that kelly did not learn about alleged physical abuse until that report came out. joining our panel this evening, nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett. jeff, good to talk to you this afternoon. has anyone from the white house responded on this new axios report? >> not on this specific report, but we did hear something new from white house budget director mick mulvaney. he said on one of the sunday shows today that rob porter was less than forthcoming about the allegations lodged against him by his ex-wives and that the problem exists with porter, not with kelly, not with president trump. however, the white house has still not come up with a consistent timeline of events. the narrative continues to shift, and regardless of what was known or not known about porter's past, that doesn't change the fact that he is white house staff secretary, the guy chged with handling the flow of information to the president, didn't have a proper security clearance and even as the fbi says, was vulnerable to blackmail, so it's not clear yet who, if anyone, will have to pay

what's going to happen to john kelly. there's talk of kelly's resignation or firing grows. kelly was having a rough week after rob porter resigned after allegations of spousal abuse from two of porter's ex-wives was made public. now it's worse. tonight a white house aide has resigned. david sorenson is also stepping down. "the washington post" reports that he was violent and emotionally abusive during their two and a half year marriage, allegations that he denied. saying she was the one who victimized him. more details on those allegations in a moment. in less than one week, there have been two big white house departures under john kelly and here's how our nbc news reporters describe the scene in the west wing tonight. john kelly was seen entering and leaving the offices of two high level communication staffers, there were aids sitting outside the offices raising the volume on televisions nearby in what appeared to be an effort to mask private conversations. that followed this afternoon that president trump was frustrated with john kelly and his chief of staff may even be c

you can go back over john kelly's 40 years. i suspect he hasn't attacked other groups like that publically. he was obviously playing for the president of the united states. and that's what's so distressing that he thinks that he can gain more power by saying that dreamers are too lazy to get off their as and sam stein for those of us who had always hoped that general john kelly was going to be a moderating influence on donald trump and bring professionalism to the west wing, certainly is people such as myself are starting to have second doubts. >> yes. i know to a certain degree the question is the most. how much of this was in him before hi came to the white house. and how much of this has been brought out of him by being in proximity to donald trump and reflecting the world view. i think it's fair to say at this juncture that the greatest hopes for the kelly era which were basically on getting a competent -- getting the white house to act competently and the president's worst impulses maybe doing something to function legisla

in general kelly? >> absolute confidence. >> i think it's much to do about nothing. >>> and breaking the ice. after a deep f