rob porter. 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. it's important to remember that rob porter has repeatedly denied these allegations and done so publicly. that doesn't change how serious and disturbing these allegations are. they're upsetting. and the background check investigates both the allegations and the denials. the investigation does not stop when allegations come to light. it continues to determine the truth. we should not short circuit an investigation just because allegations are made, unless they could compromise national security or interfere with operations at the white house. the truth must be determined. and that was what was going on with rob porter. his background investigation was ongoing. he was operating on an interim security clearance. his clearance was never denied and he resigned. to summarize, the allegations against ro

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

porter's wives are mormon, as rob porter is, his family is. they both say they consulted mormon bishops and they were not helpful, they told them to hang in, which is not helpful, something that priests in the catholicing churches have been doing forever. i think they've grown out of it recently. but let's listen to a former mormon bishop, this is senator orrin hatch. this is senator hatch today, after all of the information is out and after more than 24 hours of being able to look at the black eye photo, this is senator hatch today. this is what both of these wives have been up against. let's listen to this. >> do you believe these allegations against him? do you believe the women. >> i don't believe them all, but i -- i think there's enough there that you have to take it very seriously. >> did he describe to you which allegations he believes have validity. >> no. no. >> you didn't get into that. >> no, and i didn't want to the either. >> toni vanpelt that is a perfect manifestation of what these accusers have been up against with the people

let me talk about rob porter. 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. it's important to remember that rob porter has repeatedly denied these allegations and done so publicly. that doesn't change how serious and disturbing these allegations are. they are upsetting. and the background check investigates both the allegations and the denials. the investigation does not stop when allegations come to light. it continues to determine the truth. we should not short circuit an investigation just because allegations are made unless they can compromise national security or interfere with operations at the white house. the truth must be determined. and that was what was going on with rob porter. his background investigation was ongoing. he was operating on an interim security clearance. his clearance was never denied, and he resigned. to summarize the allegations against rob

that got no coverage. >> at the time he talked about rob porter saying he's rob porter saying he's innocent. >> he did not say that. >> he said he pointed to rob porter saying he is porter saying he is innocent. i want to talk to kirsten gillebrand. it's not surprising he doesn't believe survivors or understand the conversation. if he wants due process for the dozen allegations against him let's have congressional hearings tomorrow. >> george, let me say something. those accusers have had their day on your network and elsewhere for a long time. they were trotted out again last year. i don't need a lecture from kirsten gillibrand who harbored a sitting president who had sexual relations in the oval office and was impeached for lying. i don't need a lecture from her or anyone else. she since of course has said that president clinton had resigned. let's call this what it is. that's a democrat party bereft of any ideas and accomplishments. everybody that's happened has happened without them. in the course of month her democratic party voted to shut down the government, sat on their hands when p

you held the job that rob porter had. you heard kellyanne conway saying they were following the regular process. >> right. i did that job. you know, when i did that job, the fbi sent agents from the field office to the small village in peru where i worked with the jesuits between college and law school. that process is incredibly exacting. these guys knew about the fact pattern that would have permanently disqualified him from doing the job. that guy never should have been in the chair. there are a stack of red folders marked top secret. every day our highest secrets are seen by the house secretary. there's a burn bag under the desk because you burn the materials when you're done. the idea that someone was allowed to be there in the first place without a security clearance, despite these allegations, and was able to stay there without a plan for getting him clearance is not the normal process. >> when the fbi brings this to don mcgowan what's supposed to? >> they're supposed to dq him, sideline him. you don't want him rea

rob porter. there's no place for domestic violence in our society. if he didn't know, that's also a problem. >> we don't know exactly how much he knew. apparently he was supposedly told in november. again, here is the trouble. kelly defined his job as managing an information flow to the president. he said, i'm not here to manage the president. i'm just here to do this limited thing. well, by his own limited definition, he has failed clearly. this is the latest example of it. it's not enough just to make the trains run on time in the west wing, to be a good chief of staff, you also have to be able to walk into the oval office, close the door and tell the president what he doesn't want to hear. he should have had that conversation with donald trump about rob porter. >> chris, good to see you. the book is the gatekeepers, how the white house chiefs of staff define every presidency. always an important book. probably more important than you read it now. >>> tomorrow marks the deadline for donald trum

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 mail story was first published, 13 hours after the photo of colby holderness black eye became public, which she shared with the fbi over a year ago, that kelly changed his tune. he then says, quote, i was shocked by the new allegations released against against rob porter. there is no place for domestic violence in our vote. i stand by my previous statements about rob porter i have come to know. shocked by new allegations. problem is there wasn't anything new here. he knew about daily violence for months. daily mail added a picture. then he put out a new statement. and now they are saying the pic

say enough good things about rob porter. john kelly is lying about being shocked by the second day of accusations against rob porter because multiple news organizations have reported that the fbi told john kelly in november what they had discovered about rob porter in their background investigation. some saying he learned in september. and john kelly chose to ignore what the fbi told him. "the washington post" is reporting late tonight that the fbi told white house counsel don mcgahn one full year ago in january of 2017 about the domestic violence accusations against rob porter and that mcgahn did nothing about it. colby holderness show odd her photographs of her black eye to the fbi a ear ago. don mcgahn knew there were photographs. john kelly knew there were photos. the fbi would have no reason not to tell john kelly what they knew. don mcgahn had no reason to tell john kelli what he knew about rob porter. so john kelly decided not to believe what the two women told the fbi. does that mean that john kelly decided that thos

say enough good things about rob porter. john kelly is lying about being shocked by the second day of accusations against rob porter because multiple news organizations have reported that the fbi told john kelly in november what they had discovered about rob porter in their background investigation. some saying he learned in september. and john kelly chose to ignore what the fbi told him. "the washington post" is reporting late tonight that the fbi told white house counsel don mcgahn one full year ago in january of 2017 about the domestic violence accusations against rob porter and that mcgahn did nothing about it. colby holderness show odd her photographs of her black eye to the fbi a ear ago. don mcgahn knew there were photographs. john kelly knew there were photos. the fbi would have no reason not to tell john kelly what they knew. don mcgahn had no reason to tell john kelli what he knew about rob porter. so john kelly decided not to believe what the two women told the fbi. does that mean that john kelly decided that thos

let's talk about rob porter. the allegations involve incidents long before he joined the white house. therefore they're best evaluated through the background check process. it's important to remember that rob porter has repeatedly denied the allegations and done so publicly. that doesn't change how serious and disturbing these allegations are. they're upsetting. the background check investigates the allegations and the denials. the investigation does not stop when allegations come to light. they continue to determine the truth. we should not short circuit an investigation just because allegations are made unless they could compromise national security or interfere with operations at the white house. the truth must be determined. that is what was going on with rob porter. his background investigation was ongoing. he was operating on an interim security clearance. the clearance was never denied as he resigned. to summarize the allegations against rob porter are serious and deeply troubling. he did deny them. the in

clearly rob porter was. the question is, who else within this administration, and you know, there are dozens of members of this administration who have been unable at this point to get permanent security clearances. who else within this administration has skeletons in their closet that are waiting to come out to the public because the white house either is unwilling to investigate or just doesn't care and is hoping that it won't leak out? >> hugh, phil, i have a question for you. we heard something from this white house yesterday. i was in the front row. i don't think i've heard it in the course of the last year-plus covering the trump administration, this white house. raj shah, the deputy press secretary, said, i think we would agree that we could have done things better in the last few days, last few hours. >> well, that's good. and i hope that admitting mistakes, admitting dropped balls does not in any way -- >> does the president agree with admitting mistakes or was this a riff the president will not be

only about rob porter is because he knows rob porter. porter worked for him. they said he doesn't know these two ex-wives, so why would he be tweeting about them? the women also said that it's not the president's place to play judge and jury in an investigation and in a situation like this. and, anderson, i also asked these women about the fact that the president has supported other men who have been accused of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault such as roger ailes, bill o'reilly of fox news, and also roy moore of the alabama senate race. and they said to me the only reason they believe the president supported roy moore was for the good of the party, so he could hold on to that republican senate seat despite these disgusting allegations against him. they said that was only for the good of the party, anderson. >> randi kaye, thanks very much. >>> up next, the conflicting white house stances on accused domestic abuser rob porter and the questions about a possible cover-up. patrick woke up with back pain. but he has work to do.

this situation can't die with rob porter. one, you've got 34% of your staff that have been bled off, often under a cloud of suspicion. you have an ongoing clearance issue with intelligence matters. they made classified information on how it's handled a big deal. they did it with clinton. they're continuing it now with this bs about the fisa courts, even though they're congressionally created as an oversight mechanism. the biggest reason, mark preston, do you believe that today is the day that the president of the united states says, listen, i support the victims of domestic abuse? that has to be said by the moral leader of this country. >> the reason it has to be said and will be said, it's 180 degrees. >> won't go away. too big a deal. >> of course it's going to keep going. the bottom line is what's going to change today that hasn't changed every other day in president trump's life? the fact is he's going to stick by his own guns, allows others to give support for these women. but we're in the going to hear it from him. if h

and rob porter was not fired. he did not leave. i was told that there were some discussion about it. but that john kelly felt that porter at the time, because things were in such flux and so chaotic inside, that he wanted porter to stay. because he had become so invaluable to kelly in terms of the regular job of staff secretary which means moving around very important paper all day long, interagency classified information and so forth. 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

he saw far more classified information as obama's rob porter, same job as rob porter, than did he at the nsa. so this is a job, this man couldn't get full clearance. leave aside the women which is horrible. this is the donald trump white house so no one cares about women. look at the national security implications. look what he's now done to the president. i mean, it's really kind of stunning. >> and you got -- you've got -- jarrod kucher jared kushner doe have a permanent clearance right now and a reality tv star that shows up at meetings where sensitive information would be discussed and it's a small place. you overhear things when you're in the white house. you have omarosa who is now on a reality show whispering secrets. >> yeah, scaring people. >> you have porter and jared kushner who doesn't have a permanent one either. this is reporting tonight. it's from "the new york times." president trump called reince priebus to express dissatisfaction with john kelly. the idea that president would confide grievances over mr. kelly with the person he pushed out to hire mr. kelly is yet an

porter. >> do you believe rob porter's ex-wives? >> reporter: and the allegations of domestic abuse has raised critical questions about the security clearance process for west wing staffers. at a hearing, christopher wray disclosed what he knew about the background check and said they completed their investigation last summer. >> the fbi submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march. and then a completed background investigation in late july. soon there after, we received requests for follow-up inquiry and we did the follow-up and provided that information in november and then we administratively closed the file in january. >> that appeared to qulakt top white house officials have said for days, that the background investigation was not finished. >> it was ongoing. he was operating on an interim security clearance. the clearance was never denialed and he resigned. >> today, the aides to the president tried a new message. >> they had not made the final adjudication because the process was still ongoing when he

the president said rob porter maintained innocence. he never talked about stories of abuse of the former wives. as this moves on, one question here remains at the white house. security clearance. 30 to 40 officials in the white house and political appointees operating under temporary security clearance. cl including jared kushner. questions remain today on this. even one week later. christine and dave. >> let's talk about that budget. you are right. the white house released the 2019 budget blueprint. with the two-year spending bill, this budget will not be adopted by congress. it showcases the president's priorities for government spending. $200 billion to spur infrastructure spending. $23 billion for border security. including funding for a wall. $17 billion to fight the opioid especially em i-- epidemic. imagine food delivery for food stamp recipients. or privatizes the nasa space station. $666 billion, one of the largest in u.s. history. this cuts deficits in ten years. the president recently signed two deficit increasing bills. the

the last hours in the white house for ex-staffer rob porter. what he's telling people now about his resignation is different than what's coming from the west wing. how that drama unfolded next. >> the president's tweet yesterday was more generic. >> defending the defender and chief talking about hae meant about due process for those accused of domestic abuse. plus conway weighs in on whether she feared for hope hicks's safety after accusations of abuse by porter. >> gives point by point why the republican memo has a lot of false assertions and also in general just leads the reader into a false direction. >>> what's the hold snup? why the president won't release the new homy and if the public will ever so see it and if so, when? >>> today the white house pushing back on president trump's failure to acknowledge the alleged victims in his tweet yesterday. >> when the president is saying talking about did you process, he's right in this way, we are a country of laws, there's due process, that's absolutely correct. but we as individuals have a duty

it wasn't to question rob porter's story, it wasn't to push rob porter out. it was to amplify his version. >> right. this is sort of a bizarre move to bring these folks in and have this off the record. but it illustrates, as often with this team, this bunker mentality where her priority was to hear from porter. their priority was -- trump's priority is to talk about porter and how this has been hard for him after this came to light. look, you can vet allegations and you can decide if someone has gotten an amount of due process. in this case we have plenty of evidence. we have photographic evidence contemporaneous reports, several of them talking to fbi representatives for security clearances. it's not like they're just gabbing with friends here. this is a level of seriousness that was not taken seriously. it's because that was their priority, was him. >> and it's them picking a side. showing them picking a side even after the photo was released. i guess it's surprising to me, this new little piece of evidence really shows where their mind was even after, as f

rob porter's ex-pooiwives beg t differ. >>> welcome back today. more calls for the president to express his support for victims of domestic abuse. and so far no public comments, no tweets from the president, just a statement read by the white house press secretary sarah sanders saying, of course president trump takes domestic violence seriously. if that's the case, then shouldn't there be some kind of outreach by women who went public on spousal abuse from a top white house aide. what were colby and jenni telling you on this question? >> what's been so striking on this rob porter fallout is the kin isn inconsistencies between what the white house is saying publicly and what they were told behind the scenes. now the white house is saying so forcibly in public that the president himself, above all else, cares about victims of domestic abuse. this is what we heard sarah sanders saying repeatedly yesterday at the white house press briefing. when i reached out to both colby and jenni, the two ex-wives of rob porter who said they went through years of e

new details in the abrupt departure of rob porter. you have probably never heard of him before today, but he was chief of staff john kelly's right-hand man. he quit today in a cloud of spousal abuse allegations, allegations he's denying. if the white house hoped this story would disappear quickly, it has not. questions are being raised about who in the white house knew about the allegations, when did they know and whatdied they say to the public about them? also, there are questions about how porter got access to classified material, despite being denied a security clearance. we begin our coverage with jeff zeleny from the white house. john kelly and porter worked very closely together. what do we know about how much the chief of star actual lly kn? >> reporter: rob porter's job was to control what the president sees and what he doesn't see in the oval office. he was a way to instill john kelly's west wing discipline. we're told that john kelly knew about this for months. rob porter today said it was part of a coordinated smear campai

delivered their completed report on rob porter. and as of tonight it seems nothing fbi director christopher wray says about this is going to fit the lies being told by the trump white house. joining us now, william yeomans who spent 26 years at the justice department and was the former chief counsel on the senate judiciary committee. also with us matt miller, former spokesperson for attorney general eric holder and an msnbc contributor. and bill yeomans, what happens next, particularly with the fbi director? surely the next time he is testifying at congress, he is going to be asked about this. reporter mace have access to the director before the next time he testifies to congress. we're going to hear more from him. >> well, i think we will. and i think what you've set up really indicates something that's been missing in this whole affair which is serious congressional oversight. this is a situation when congress should really step up. and of course under republican leadership, that is not happening. so, yeah, the fbi director will

he did it with rob moore. now with rob porter. he tweets that these mere g allegations ruin men's lives. that is an attack on every woman who has ever been beaten, raped, pushed to the ground. it is an attack on the wives of rob porter. that behavior is be a hoernt to me. >> i agree -- >> hold on, guys. let me get kellyanne conway also here as well. she represents this white house. listen to what she told jake tapper about the allegations. >> i've seen it when the president is saying, talking about due process, he is right in this way. we are a country of laws and due process. correct. we as individuals have the responsibility to individual everybody in each case. you have police reports. women speak together fbi under perjury. police reports, photographs. when you look at all of this pulled together, you realize that rob porter did the right thing by resigning. >> sounds like you believe the women. >> i have no reason not to believe the women. >> dwrar, thetara, we have a wh staffer. a female saying she believes the women. does t

porter's ex-wives with a black eye that rob porter, himself, had taken a picture of when he was pressed about that, he admitted the white house could have handled this better, but that does not really add up either, jake, because the initial allegations came out the day before alleging serious physical and verbal abuse, and as we have seen john kelly came out fiercely defending rob porter, so we are told, though, that in terms of his future here, john kelly's future at the white house, there's no consideration to fire him. people that i spoke with and my colleagues and others have spoken with say they don't want to rock the boat too much, that it causes too much instability despite the venting about him. we'll see what happens here. jake? >> pamela brown at the white house for us, thank you so much. >>> let's talk about this whole item for a second, if we could, amanda, because hope hicks, long time aide, trusted of president trump, the communications director, and it's been reported that she has a personal relationship with rob porter, they are both single, so nobody's suggesting there

to rob porter here. one that people saw in the white house, the one that general kelly saw in the white house was a competent professional, a calm person, a person who seemed able to handle the stress of a chaotic white house, who seemed to be able to help bring order to a chaotic white house. and that's who general kelly saw. he didn't see the side these ex-wives saw, obviously a person as they describe, a person of anger, a person of violence, a person of abuse. so, he was unwilling to credit those accounts until he saw this photograph in which it was very hard to dismiss. now, to be honest, we should make sure to repeat that rob porter has denied these allegations and says the picture is misleading, that he was the one who took it. but he doesn't explain how his ex-wife got a black eye through anything other than what she said. once general kelly sees this photographs, it's pretty hard not to put out a second statement trying to clean up the first one. >> peter, let me press you a little bit. this hap

clearly there was a vetting issue with rob porter. and i would imagine that there are going to be questions that the white house counsel has to answer. considering this what did he know, when did he know, i do think if john kelly had information, it will be interesting to know his process and how the president feels about it, about what he chose to share or not share with the president. >> all right, guys. there's a lot more we're going to have on this story. it's developing right now. we're standing by for the white house briefing as well. we'll see what they have to say about rob porter and more . the briefing room still pretty empty but that will be full pretty soon. the white house set to respond to these very serious new questions. it won't be sarah sanders, by the way, it will be the deputy secretary raj shaw. he's never done it before. we'll have live coverage of that. >>> hell, no. that's what one republican says about the daca that's been presented. the dow down 581 points. as this wild swing continues, you're going to hear w

is he talking about rob porter? what exactly is he talking about. jeff zeleny. during the election there were at least 15 women accusing donald trump of sexual assault, odd behavior. >> it certainly explains a mindset. this explains a president's window into how he thinks. this is not the first time that this story line has played out here. in fact, sadly, it played out again and again and again during the end of the campaign and indeed since then with the roy moore senate race in alabama and others. as dana said, she was absolutely right, the president, more than anyone else, knows how to use that megaphone in terms of tweeting or going on television. he spent almost an hour in front of the cameras today talking about infrastructure. never mind the message that's been almost completely overshadowed by this mess of their own making. at the beginning of the white house briefing our colleague, jim acosta asked sarah sanders again if he and the white house was tone deaf about this. watch what she said. >> is there a tone deafness there? is there just being on the w

were they laid to by rob porter? we don't know any of the answers. >> we can't get past these initial parts of it. all right. jill, thank you. former watergate on prosecutor. >>> up next, director of national intelligence is calling for a revolutionary change to the nation's security clearance system. the reporter who broke that story joins me next. hi i'm joan lunden. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your family we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice. they were the best team in the world.s. we were about to pull off the greatest upset in american sports history. but we were more than american... i never realized we were from

rob porter, roy moore, bill o'reilly, roger moore. he didn't defend al franken. >> he spoke up about steve wynn. let's frame this in the me too movement. it had to happen. i don't know if it would have happened if he didn't get elected president. i think a big part of the me too movement, women saw, that guy got elected. why does he continually double down on an issue that should be a nonissue? i think are we against or for domestic violence? >> that was hard for them. i mean, let's just stop right there because last week john kelly didn't have answers. i mean, their first statement about rob porter's credible allegations of domestic abuse was that he was a man of integrity. and it took -- it was many hours later the same night that they came out against domestic violence. >> i keep trying -- there is something that's scaring me a little bit. i know in the polls now women now, 10% of women have shifted from the election whether -- white women who voted for him or women overall. i just wonder if there is a thesis that he plays on. beyo

secretary rob porter. how did such an abuser rise so much in the white house, and how did the chief of staff look the other way until photos surfaced. director hope hicks, kaitlyn, has also now emerge ld d at the center of this storm. what are you hearing about her and the president? >> i would like to note that the white house just brought reporters into the oval office because the president was meeting with one of his supporters, and he actually spoke about this rob porter scandal. this is the first time we're hearing from the president directly on this. he said that he wished porter well. he found out about the allegations against him recently. he remarked that it was sad but added that porter has denied these allegations, and that is something that people should keep in mind. we are seeing this is very much something that's on the president's mind here, wolf, but yes, we are learning that the fallout from this scandal relating to rob porter is affecting one of the president's relationships with his clo

think about rob porter, roger ailes, roy moore. the only time where he was particularly kind to the victims was the case of bill clinton. >> and let me quickly also point out that in a very unusual statement to the embassy staff and officials in cairo last night, rex tillerson said that sexual harassment will not be tolerated at the state department, that everyone has mandatory sexual harassment prevention training by june 1st. the entire work force of the state department that has been rarely, if ever in this past year, called to action on any subject, and spoke about how important it is to prevent any sexual harassment in the state department. it really seemed as though it was an unusual statement, to say the least, from the secretary of state on foreign soil. >> just the contrast in language between what you hear from folks like rex tillerson and what you hear from this president, where he's standing before everybody on friday and appeared to give what was in effect a public letter of recommendation to rob porter, making no refe

the sudden departure of rob porter, white house staff secretary. an alleged spousal abuser two times over. jim acosta has late details. what do we know about rob porter's resignation and how it came about? >> reporter: essentially, anderson, they were starting to work on this over the last 24 to 48 hours when this daily mail story broke. they knew they had to respond to this, and essentially what they've been saying up until really late today was that, you know, there were some thoughts that rob porter could weather this storm. and, you know, rob porter himself put out a statement saying that much of this is not true. of course he resigned earlier today, and the white house had to deal with this at the daily briefing. but this is the statement from rob porter, talking about these allegations of abuse from two of his ex-wives. these allegations are simply false. i took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described. anderson, the photos they are referring to, one of the ex-wi

defenses of rob porter. white house officials including ivanka trump praised hope hicks. and the president put out a statement saying hope is fantastic. capri: i have never met her. she may be a fantastic individual. it is a difficult circumstance. she was romantically involved with an individual who was a coworker, and all these allegations about abuse of ex-wives have come out. there are two separate issues. is hope hicks competent at her job? the view of those inside the white house is yes. she does a good job. the other question is is it appropriate to be involved with somebody else you work with. ed: should she be involved in this story. her personal life is her personal life. howie: we have another story about another white house aide, a former speech writer, david sorenson who resigned friday as the white house was pursuing abuse allegations from another ex-wife. he was gone pretty quickly. the "daily mail" broke this story and had both wivessen the record -- both wives on the record with these allega

on the table one of the rob porter's ex-wives speaking out. the effort the white house seems to be making to obscure how long top officials have known the allegations. the showdown over government shutdown and the budget drama that's been playing out for hour o s on the senate floor. omarosa issues a dire warning about where the president is taking the country. she does it on big brother house. is it big brother? yeah, sorry. i don't want it. i want to get to know one of women for whom this is not about damage control but hopefully a measure of healing. jenny willoughby is her name. she was married to rob porter from 2009 to 2013. she said she endured physical and emotional abuse. porter's first wife colbie holderness divorced him after years. rob porter denies the allegations calling them outrageous, false. he says the reality behind the pictures is nowhere close to what is being described and says quote, i've been transparent and truthful about these vile claims. with that said, i want to play you what jenny said in just a moment. first i wa

why was rob porter able to keep his interim security clearance? the white house explains that away by saying it was allowing law enforcement, the fbi, to continue its investigation, to look into these allegations. we are told that in terms of john kelley's future here, the president is from ustrated, you set, but he will continue in his job, that there is no consideration to let him go. raj shaw also said he has confidence in him. also interesting to point out here is that raj shaw changed the language in terms of what happened with porter. yesterday they said porter resigned and that he would be staying on for a while. then today raj shaw says he was terminated yesterday and he just came in this morning to clean his tesdesk. we should mention rob porter denies all these allegations. >> it was fascinating, though, from the white house today, from raj shaw, who point blank was asked, did general kelley know about these allegations months ago? that's a yes or no question. he kept saying, i'm not going to get into a tick-tock, i'm not going to get in

he made a comment on rob porter. he also can have sympathy, r respect, and compassion for the millions of victims of victims of child abuse and drug abuse. if cnn or anyone else wants a serious kergs about them and use our platforms to really take a bite out of these scourges, give me a call, i work first and fore most on the opioid crisis. the budget being released tomorrow is bringing in $6 billion. >> is that enough? >> it is more than we have ever seen it it will bring treatment, law enforcement, education, and prevention. we need to tackle all three at once. we need to get those drugs and keep them out of our country and communities, but we also have to help the people already addicted and in need of medicated assisted treatment, and we have to educate everyone that the tric tri trickiness, that what is in mom and dad's medicine cabinet is l harm you. >> porter's second wife said she is worried about hope hicks, take a listen. >> it worries me for a lot of reasons. first, if i'm being frank with you. if he has n

they are sure to get questions on the rob porter controversy after the fbi director seemed to contradict their timeline during his testimony on capitol hill today. hello, everyone. i'm dana perino and this is "the daily briefing." top intel chiefs testifying for hours over the senate intelligence committee ab the gravest threat to our national security including a warning about the russians in our upcoming midterm elections. catherine herridge is live on capitol hill. >> reporter: throughout the four-hour testimony this morning, we heard from the chief of the u.s. intelligence committee. they took a lot of question, especially from senate democrats about russia's interference in the 2016 election. their assessment is that russia is still at it. >> there should be no doubt that russia perceives that its past efforts were successful and views the 2018 u.s. midterm elections as a potential target for russian influence operation. >> reporter: we also heard testimony from the intelligence chief that russia sees it as a success because it allowed them to promote propaganda, use false operation

why is the president defending rob porter? >> and democrats regroup after the claims of a politically motivated conspiracy behind secret surveillance of a one-time trump campaign adviser. is the president's move just politics or does the democrats' memo really compromise sources

again, my interview with one of rob porter's ex-wives in a moment. but first, cnn's jim acosta was in the briefing room when all the bobbing and weaving was happening. he joins us now. i understand you're getting new reporting about that briefing today. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. i was just talking with a source close to the white house who advises this white house on communications strategy from time to time. this source was telling me that the reason why raj shaw was not giving a full tick-tock or explaining of the timetable in terms of what john kelly and other top white house staffers knew and when they knew it is because it is, quote, too damning and that is an indication, anderson, that i think they knew full well going into this briefing today that they simply could not give, you know, a detailed explanation as to what john kelly knew and when he knew it because it would just simply be too damaging to this white house. now obviously you were just playing these clips a few moments ago. it was apparent in the room. this was raj shaw's

he doesn't know rob porter in that way. general kelly didn't know rob porter in that way. they knew him in a professional setting where apparently he was exceptional. all of us have known people in their living who can do, be in a professional setting wonderful smart and gre garrigus and wonderful and go home and be a very different person. >> do you need to go out of your way to then praise them for their action in a professional setting. first of all, he was praising roger ailes for his actions in a professional setting, which were anything but professional. and bill o'reilly as well. so it does seem -- and roy moore as well. because he was actually at the time of the allegations, he was a professional. i think he was, what, the district attorney or assistant district attorney. he does seem to go out of his way -- >> i'm assuming, anderson, here's the thing, i give the president the benefit of the doubt because i trust him. i think he meant it was sad for everyone. >> right -- no, what he said -- i've gone over his statements. what he said was it's sad for people at the

reporter: does the president still wish rob porter well? does he still want to have a great career ahead of him? sec. sanders: i think the president of the united states hopes that all americans can be successful in whatever they do, and if they've had any issues in the past -- i am not confirming or denying one way or another, but if they do, the president wants success for all americans. he was elected to serve all americans and he hopes for the best for all american citizens across the country. reporter: what about the president's tweet over the weekend, "people's lives are being shattered and destroyed by near allegations?" it seems like the president was believing mr. porter as opposed to his alleged victims. why did the president tweet that over the weekend, and why is he seemingly defending mr. porter publicly? is it because he has faced his own allegations? is there some sensitivity there? sec. sanders: as i just said, and i will repeat again, the president and entire demonstration take the mystic violence very seriously and believe

president, do you believe rob porter's ex-wives? do you believe rob porter's ex-wives, mr. president? >> thank you very much. >> do you believe rob porter's ex-wives, mr. president? >> now, remember, according to sarah sanders, the president supports the victims. here's the second opportunity for him to say something this afternoon. >> mr. president, do you have a message to domestic violence victims? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thanks, everyone. >> thank you. >> and that was it. now, above everything else, the president supports the victims, says the white house. the white house says, don't believe your eyes, believe us. we asked the white house for anyone to come on the program to talk about any of this tonight, they said no. jim acosta is going to join us right now from the white house. jim, i understand you have new reporting on don mcgahn and john kelly and when they knew specific information. >> that's right. you don't have a white house official, anderson, but you do have me. i was told by white house official earlier this evening who said that don mcgahn simply h

porter last week. >> we learned of the extent of the situation involving rob porter last tuesday evening. and within 24 hours his resignation had been accepted and announced. >> full extent. okay? that's cover language. and it's also not true. white house counsel don mcgahn was first made aware of the allegations in january of last year. how do we know? because the reporting is that rob porter told mcgahn about them himself. then in september, mcgahn learned that the allegations were holding up porter's security clearance, according to "the washington post." and in late november, an ex-girlfriend of porter's disturbed by porter's relationship with white house communications director hope hicks called mcgahn directly to warn him. mcgahn reportedly relaid this to other white house officials. okay. so that's what the white house knew. what about what the fbi knew? here is sarah sanders on that yesterday. >> the process for the background was on going. and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check. >> papers. again, that's a cover

rob porter is the president's senior aide. one of his two ex-wives responded to the white house after they refused to say whether president trump believes the former wives accounts. colby holderness said rob porter gave her this black eye. she wrote an op-ed for "the washington post" saying she was disappointed in sarah sanders after this response at yesterday's briefing. >> does he believe rob porter's accusers or are they lying? >> the president and the entire administration take domestic violence very seriously and believe all allegations need to be thoroughly investigated and above all, the president supports the victims of domestic violence and believes everyone should be treated fairly and with due process. >> that doesn't answer the question. >> as i just said, i'm not going beyond that. that's where we are right now. >> shepard: holderness has responded to that comment saying while i cannot say i'm surprised, i expected a woman to do better. holderness taking aim at president trump saying he seemed to be questioning th