lucas' proud mom hopes this increase acceptance of special needs kids. congratulations, lucas. we're rooting for you, a busy day. i'm dana perino. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 at the white house where the question now is who knew what and when about porter. the presidential aide accused of abusing not one but two former wives. a picture of the abuse. he denied it. the testimonials are detailed and we're hearing he could be gone today. we should learn more in the white house briefing which is now scheduled to begin in 14 minutes from now. lawmakers in the last hour with an effort to avoid another show down have come up with a deal. the government runs out of money at midnight and no guarantee congress will get the deal done. there's another wild day on the markets. we're off 2.5% on the day. as we learned yesterday, the

last hour could have breaking news changing everything. what is happening here? turns out there could be one very simple reason. let's get to it. good thursday afternoon from the fox news deck. a live look inside the white house. the brief willing start in 14 minutes. first, there's word some trump administration officials did know and knew for many months about accusations that a senior white house aide had physically and emotionally abused two ex-wives and his boss knew about it for months. we believe since november. that's what sources are telling multiple correspondents, including john roberts. the man's name is rob porter. he has announced his resignation. he did so yesterday as president trump's staff secretary. a big job.

he denies the accusations or has thus far. he called them outrageous and a smear campaign. part of porter's job was vetting the paperwork that made it to the president's desk. so to get to the president, paperwork had to go through him. he also traveled on air force one, helped write president trump's state of the union speech. at first, the chief of staff john kelly who is said to have known about the allegations released a statement calling porter a man of true integrity. and then later after some vetting, kelly said he was shocked by what he called the new allegations. but repeated his support for porter. the man now accused of beating his two ex-wives. fox news has learned that the white house communications director hope hicks, who has been dating this man, porter, helped write the first statement. porter's first wife, colby holderness tells john roberts this picture was taken during a trip to italy in 2005.

she says her husband at the time, porter, punched her in the face during an argument in their hotel room. it's that picture, that picture that has apparently changed things at the white house. they have known about this for months. but the picture made a difference. porter's second wife, jennifer willoughby tells "the washington post" newspaper that porter once dragged her from the shower after an argument. >> he came and grabbed me by the shoulders here and pulled me out of the shower in a rage. immediately on seeing the terror in my face, retracted and apologized and changed composure immediately. >> the allegation is years and years of abuse. both women say they told fbi agents about the abuse during porter's security clearance investigation. they go back and check with former wives. they say they told the fbi about

all of it. fox news cannot confirm they got that clearance. listen to this. then we're told that the fbi went to the white house and said here are the allegations. and that that was some time ago. months ago. only once the picture came out did anything change. john roberts is live for us at the white house this afternoon. quite a web of people close to this president, john. >> yeah, there's no question about that. we're talking about the very closest orbit in an around the president. what we're trying to do and what we're hoping to do at the briefing, which has now been delayed for the second time until 3:15, nail down the time line of who knew what and went. i talked with colby holderness. she said she spoke with the fbi on january 25, 2017. that would be a little more than a year ago. this was an interview in regard to rob porter's security clearance. he never received his full clearance. he received and interim

clearance. these photos on the screen turned the tide of this story. she says that she told the fbi her story providing them with these photos and his second wife, jennifer willoughby talked to the fbi and shared her story. that file at some point last year should have come over here to the white house counsel's office if they were following the protocols in place during the bush administration, and if there were any items in that file that were concerning, they would have been paper clipped and brought to the attention of somebody in the white house counsel's office who was in charge of clearances. that file also could have gone to the chief of staff as well. despite colby holderness's assurances to fox news that that's what happened and she got a black eye at the hands of report porter, the white house was denying it, at least porter was. >> these outrageous allegations are false. i took the photos given to the

media 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere clear what is being described. >> so john kelly, the chief of staff earlier this week, when allegations first surfaced in an article in the daily mail recording jennifer willoughby put out the following statement. it said "rob porter is a man of integrity. a friend a confident and trusted professional. i'm proud to serve alongside him." that statement was matched as others saying porter was a terrific guy. after the photos of the black eye came out late tuesday into wednesday morning, john kelly had a very different take on the whole situation saying in a news statement released last night, i was shocked by the new allegations released today against rob porter. there's no place for domestic violence in our society. i stand by my previous comments of the rob porter i have come to know since becoming chief of

staff and believes every individual deserves the right to defend their reputation. the real issue at hand here that the first time he takes the podium for the briefing because sarah sanders is a way will likely take a lot of questions. >> shepard: you spoke with one of the ex-wives. >> colby holderness is one of the weiss. this is the first wife. she said she got the black eye when they had a flight in a hotel room in florence, italy. she said and this corroborates the white house's statement that porter took the first photograph. that is the one when her eye was puffy. she took it at her request because she wanted to have evidence of what he did should it happen again. the other photos when the bruising sets in, she said she

took herself and she wanted to keep those as well as evidence of what had happened. she also said that the night before she interviewed with the fbi, so that would have been january 24, 2017. she spoke with a woman who we will not name right now out of respect for her. she spoke with a woman that is dating porter at the time. the two of them commiserated about their experience with porter. colby holderness said the other women dating porter at the time relayed to her some incidents that had happened to her. so there's corroboration now and we haven't heard anything from porter's side specifically on shooting any of this down. we have corroboration from three women that there did appear to be some sort of pattern of domestic abuse here, shep. >> shepard: john roberts at the white house. we'll be back for the briefing shortly. now, let's go to katelyn owens, a reporter for axios.

the main question is, it's our understanding that the chief of staff, john kelly, knew about this going back as far as november. we don't know what he did with that information. is that right? >> shep, it's really unclear as we've been discussing over the past couple minutes. we don't know who knew exactly what when. we know the allegations of abuse that were discussed at the fbi during rob porter's security clearance investigations, but we don't know -- our reporting is showing that rob porter, there was discussion in the white house but rob porter characterized this as a spear campaign against him. we don't know what kind of definitive information was shared and what kind of communication between the fbi and top officials at the white house. we're waiting to learn more about that. so this open question of, you know, where on the scale did this white house's information come from between knowing

exactly what was going on at the fbi at that level or just kind of the rumor mill level. >> shepard: our understanding from sources is it was -- that he was not dating hope hicks was an open secret and that hope hicks helped draft the first statement. how much was everybody involved? if you knew about this from the beginning, if you knew the fbi came to you in november and said while you're thinking of hiring this person to do this job, here's what his two ex-wives have said in detail, long statements, years and years of abuse. it seems like that would be a red flag for hiring for someone who is an inch away from the oval office. >> right. keep in mind, rob porter didn't have a permanent security clearance. he was in charge of getting things in front of the president. he saw just top level stuff. so that's another question that

raises just beyond hiring. you know, who is allowed access to what. >> are there questions being raised about john kelly and his tenure there now? especially given the other day when talking about dreamers and the hundreds of thousands that never signed up from the program and he said some of them are too lazy to get off their asses and do it. while we know a lot of dreamers, people brought here as children, don't know anything but america, they're afraid or afraid to go sign up for fear somebody might go knocking at their door and try to toss them out. it's not as if all of them were too lazy to get off their asses as he put it and he's taken heat for that you wonder when the general status goes to the sidelines. is there talk there? >> we see this pattern at the white house. it's -- there's these media controversies and the question of how long will this person last. is their character tainted, can

we trust them. it's story after story, whatever variation you want on it. the thing to keep in mind least about kelly's comments about immigration and immigrants, you know, kelly and trump are pretty aligned the same way on immigration our reporting shows. so as has been proven the past year, a lot of these white house officials are talking to an audience of one, the president himself. so you know, i don't know if we have seen anything this week that would risk kelly's tenure with the president. >> shepard: what is the status of portman's employment? it's a gray thing but sounds like they seem to believe he he be gone today. >> right. seems like he resigned yesterday and the resignation has been accepted. i think this white house briefing that we're supposed to start pretty quickly here, there's a lot of questions that we're hoping to get answered. >> shepard: and we'll be listening in for that. caitlin, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me.

>> shepard: from axios.com. the white house briefing is set to begin. we're set to begin three minutes from now. hearing about a major snag in the race to keep the federal government from going dark tomorrow night, you heard the senate had this bipartisan plan and said look, we got it. but now there's word that it may be in trouble. may not pass before the money runs out at midnight. we're live with new details from capitol hill. watching another tough day on the market. look at this. now it's down 650. periods of volatility. we know volatility is in. the question is how worried are investors about not just inflation but about the bond markets. that's one of the big concerns today. you know that -- they get concerned about one thing that is legitimate, maybe there's inflation. money is getting more expensive. no question. when do you switch from honest concerns that mean rationale moves on the dow and all the other markets into some kind of

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the republican senator rand paul that is not happy about all this spending, our capitol news team says he's right now refusing to go along with the procedure that would let the senate vote. that could keep the senate from making any kind of deal until 1:00 a.m. on friday. is that 1:00 a.m. saturday? 1:00 a.m. friday. so late thursday night. that's late tonight, early tomorrow morning. an hour after the government runs out of cash at midnight. he just wants a quick vote on budget caps. it's not the first time that senator paul has blocked a deal of this sort. even aside from senator paul, the bipartisan budget faces opposition from both sides of the aisle in the house of representatives. the house speaker, paul ryan, says that he thinks the house will get this done. he's got a problem with it's he

freedom caucus. they think there's too much spending here. they're wide open about it. they make no bones about it. we're spending too much money. nancy pelosi's people said that maybe we need somebody younger. yesterday she held the floor for eight hours and talked and talked. she tried to make a compelling argument on immigration. she said she's going to vote no unless there's a rock solid guarantee the house will vote on protection for the same dreamers that i just mentioned. speaker brian says he will bring an immigration to the floor if the president will sign it. in a record-breaking eight-hour speech yesterday, former speaker now leader pelosi shared personal stories of the dreamers, immigrants whose parents brought to the country without documents. some republicans have slammed this budget deal. it lifts the debt ceiling. our debt is going up.

spending is increasing. our senior producer, chad pergram says it could be a very, very late night for lawmakers tonight. mike emanuel has the news from capitol hill. what are we hearing from the republican side now, mike? >> shep, kentucky senator rand paul is hosting unanimous consent. he wants to vote on maintaining the current spending caps. not another $165 billion for the military. meanwhile, a lot of republican colleagues are saying the military needs that money to allow the pentagon to do its planning. >> general mattis said the combined effect of the crs and the budget cuts have done more damage to the military than any enemy on the battlefield. there's spending that people don't like. i get that. >> republicans are worried about the debt. they feel lawmakers are not control themselves going

forward. >> once you have raised spending limits, you don't get them back down. now, i love bipartisanship. but not what it's bought and paid for with billions of taxpayer dollars. that's precisely what this measure does. you sprinkle enough money around, you can get bipartisan support. >> so the military hawks like the budget deal. the fiscal hawks, not so much, shep. >> shepard: what about democrats in what are they saying? >> one separate democrat said he's worried about daca but the focus today right now is passing a two-year budget deal. >> we can't control the discussion in the house. i'm sure there will be a variety of opinions in the house of representatives. we'll have a chance to debate an immigration bill next week that hopefully will pass the senate and can pass the house. so we'll, you know, cross one bridge at a time. >> this has been awkward for nancy pelosi who is one of the

negotiators of the deal. she's pushing for a deal on daca, the young people brought here by their parents. paul ryan tried to re-assure her he's committed to doing that once the budget is passed knowing that he full well need democrat support. >> shepard: mike, thank you. watching to see whether congress can get a deal done and prevent the government shut down. we'll speak with a congressional reporter for the associated press. a live look at the dow. we're waiting for the news press briefing to begin. we'll take that live. the dow jones was just down 700 points about that long ago. approaching 3%. correction territory no doubt. lots of news this afternoon. we're following it closely. stay with us.

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>> shepard: so here's a live look at the white house where the daily briefing is -- they come out there where they can

get out there. they're busy inside there. they'll be out in a minute to brief us. it could be a big briefing. congress racing against the clock to prevent a shut down at midnight. nobody wanted a government shut down. it was interested to see the president go yeah, we'll have a shut down. he's daring them not to get it done. some lawmakers are both parties say they will vote against the deal. let's go to andrew taylor from associated press. where is the danger here? who has danger if this goes down? the rs or the ds? >> the democrats certainly may regret that. there's an awful lot of money here for democratic priorities. remember, during the last shut down, a lot of democrats were talking about we need money for flood aid, we need money for infrastructure and opioid abuse. this package has all of that. so if they vote it down, which i'm not confident they'll do, they would lose a lot of priorities. >> shepard: pelosi says we lose our leverage. she didn't say this, but it's

the truth. her idea is we lose our leverage on daca we won't get it done. i think that's what she's saying. >> shepard: it's unclear how much leverage they have. this is the same play that ted cruz put on obamacare and that didn't work out. shutting the government down to get something out site of the purview of another piece of legislation doesn't work. so it's a bad strategy. i don't believe nancy pelosi will be too upset if this bill passes. in fact, a lot of her members want it to. >> shepard: a lot of that was -- explain the politics behind that. a lot of that was for her base, right? a lot of people in her own party are like maybe we need someone to replace nancy pelosi, she's not a new person anymore. the stamina is part of the message. >> sure. the democratic caucus has more junior, liberal members. a lot from minority districts that feel passionate about the

dreamers. we're told they have leverage. now the voices of more practicingmatic members that see billions for things that democrats have been talking about. i have a feeling it will squeak by. to be perfectly honest, if nancy pelosi was using all of her powers and skills to kill the bill, it would be dead. >> shepard: a lot of viewers are wondering about the people on the right, the conservatives, the freedom caucus type people that this is what we've been railing against for years and years. your overspending, increasing the debt, imperilling the nation, spending too much money. you're not going to get those votes. not like this. >> to be honest, if barack obama were still president and nancy pelosi were still in control, there would be hardly any republican votes for this. it's true that republicans talk a good game on the deficit, but they just passed the tax bill that will add close to $2 trillion to it.

this bill, the spending increases, it's going to cost almost that much. >> shepard: the tax bill is where it started. everybody has a tax break now. self getting more money. they're happy about it. your tax break is going to end and corporation tax breaks will continue forever. it's great to talk to you, andrew taylor. congressional reporter for the associated press. thank you. another look at the white house now. we'll bring you the leaving as soon as it starts. an empty podium does not speak. a live look at the dow. we're up 150 points off the session lows. if you're looking for a silver lining, we love them. we're 150 points off the session lows. 140 now. at any rate, volatility is the name of the game. we'll keep watching it. be calm. don't be alarmed for now. stay the course. 1,000 points of life as a bush once said unless it crashes. i'm sorry. we'll check in with gerri willis also from the fox business network. george w. bush with an

accusation aimed straight at moscow about our election. you think there's wiggle room with the russians and interfering with our elections? are you kidding me? this former president will speak. inside a building gone sideways as teams search for survivors after a deadly earthquake. that's at the headlines, bottom of the hour next.

>> i'm lea gabrielle with the fox report and more of today's headlines. rescuers risking their lives to search for people in a leaning building in taiwan. officials say ten people died after an earthquake shock the coast. at one point, the search team had to run for safety when after shocks hit. and one died in a church surface in texas. that's the word from cops in corpus christi. they say an apparent member of the congregation pulled out a

knife and stabbed for people. investigators say they have arrested the suspect. a pickup truck plowing into a bakery just outside of washington d.c. it was caught on security video. nobody was hurt. according to the store's owner, the driver said he was distracted and thinking about an upcoming meeting and was driving too fast. the news continues with shepard smith after this.

>> shepard: the dow is moving. it's volatile. that's the word. it's been calm for a couple years and now volatile. swinging more than 500 points for the fifth day in a row. it's off 680 or so. that's the most since october of 2008. this overall swing that we've been seeing. let's take a look at the dow now. you know, it's volatile. this is the new normal at least for now. the new normal of now is volatility. the individual investors are concerned about different things as cavuto explains it to me.

they're concerned about the bond market and where it's going. they're concerned about inflation and where that is going. as long as they have the individual concerns, there might be a market correction. we're along way from a technical correction. but if they get all crazy like in the past and act with irrational exuberance, it might go batty. we don't think that will happen. we think it's going to correct, right, gerri willis? >> at some point it will correct. that's true. >> shepard: they always have. >> yeah. you know, the question is, is this a correction or a bear market. we're 300 points away from the dow industrials. nasdaq -- we call it the nas. it's even further away. >> shepard: you hear the acronyms over there. the rest of it is like -- >> we're trying to speak english for you. so bottom line here, people are

nervous about the changing economy. right? what they see is the economy that is growing super fast. they see interest rates on the way up. they think inflation could be a big issue. >> shepard: they do think that. >> few people in the market understand inflation, especially the professionals. the traders, the financial advisers. they live in a world where inflation has been super low. the whole world changes when that happens. fifth day in a row, intraday swings at 710. correction territory, not yet. >> shepard: bond markets. they're worried about the bonds. that's what traders are on to today. >> yeah, we've been able to fill our debt everywhere forever. the u.s. treasury. it's been a lovely thing. >> shepard: how we fund things. >> this week congress decided they would take out more money. right? they're going to spend more money. they have a new budget out there. it's very expensive. a lot of traders are saying,

hmm, if the u.s. treasury is spending money, how much are they going to have to pay it. they called it yields backing up. that means the yields are going higher. so we're seeing a change in the fundamental assumptions of the marketplace. as you can see, all 30 dow stocks now negative. it include quality companies like j.p. morgan chase. a lot of companies in here you dig into this, these are companies that we have known and talked about for a long, long time. you have to like sit back -- >> shepard: and relax for a minute. the market does not like instability and doesn't like big change. there's big changes going on. they woke up and realized money won't be cheap. that's right. money is going to cost more to borrow. if you have money, you can sock it away and get better interest rates. which is great. >> the big winners, people in retirement. they've waited a long time. >> shepard: my beloved

stepmother, pat, will be happy to see this. save the money and get the interest off it. she's worked hard. saved a lot. >> 8,000 points the last 14 months. what were you expecting? >> shepard: it's been going up. we are off 750 on the session. get this, four minutes ago, four minutes ago, we got a two-minute warning on the white house. two-minute warnings are more of a guide and we know this. it's no big deal. nobody was later than bill clinton was and more was more on time than george bush 44. bush 43. every single thing he was on time. they're busy. we'll take you there when they're ready. the white house said president trump could decide today whether to approve the release of democrats memo. he allowed a republican memo to go public last week. it accused the fbi and justice department of abusing their

power to spy on a former trump campaign aide. democrats say republicans distorted information and made misleading claims to try to undermine the investigation. they say americans should see both memos. it's all -- look over here, look over here. they're investigating the president. getting close to the office. they want you to look over here. catherine herridge is live in washington. hello. >> a source close to the process says under house rules the president has five business days to voice objections, which takes us to monday. the consensus the to look for a resolution as early as tomorrow. the president as you mentioned can use the same strategy he used last week with the republican staff memo and fully declassified the democrat's counter memo about surveillance by the fbi and justice department. all parties and the fbi have been told to review the memo and make recommendations about the release today. then the president has the final say. the democrats version drafted by

the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee adam schiff is ten pages versus the republican staff version at four pages. we understand the counter memo has more detail and gets into sources which will likely call for redactions. >> it will be irresponsible to leave baseless charges that have a collateral effect of reducing the confidence that the american people have in the fbi. >> so stay tuned, shep. >> shepard: thank you. we shall. we're many minutes away -- many minutes passed the white house briefing. we'll take you there when it begins. bush 43 says it's clear that russia meddled in the united states election. more of his comments next.

>> that was a quick break. let's listen to the white house briefing. >> given the unusual nature of these circumstances, a number of false reports floating around, we want to try to explain as best we can within our security limitations how the background investigation process works and then talk about rob porter and how -- how his situation fits in that process. background investigation process is a background for investigating a white house staffer's conduct before joining the white house. it's run by the white house and law enforcement communities. it's thorough, plex and takes time. it takes time because we want to get it right. it's costly and absolutely worth it. over the course of any

investigation, some information may arise that seems troubling or complicated and requires additional investigating. it's important to allow that process to continue in order for a fullsome understanding of the information. the whole u.s. government takes this process seriously. it's not politicized or interfered with. but we do not push -- we do push for -- we push to obtain acc rate fulsome information as quickly as possible. 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 incidents took place long before he joined the white house, therefore they were investigated as part of the background check as this process is meant for such allegations. it was not completed and rob porter has since resigned. during his time at the white

house, rob received no waivers and no special treatment and this is the tried and true process. it was followed meticulously. we hope this helps explain how seriously these matters are taken and how the process works to investigate such allegations. with that, i'll take your questions. john? >> can you tell us when the white house first became aware of the allegations? >> i know there's been some reports about the chief of staff. he became fully aware about these allegations yesterday. i'm not going to get into the specifics regarding who may have known what pieces of information because there were all part of an ongoing background check investigation. >> you say fully aware. was he partially aware? >> i think we all became aware of the news reports that emerged wednesday morning and the graphic images. >> did you know this in november? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics. >> the statement changed from john kelly from yesterday

morning to yesterday evening. he said based on new allegations. what changed with the new allegations? >> i think what i just referenced. the reports had additional allegations. they had more information. >> so you're saying initial reports were two former wives who accused him of violent physical and verbal abuse was not sufficient for him to say he's not a man of honor? >> there were a number of statements from the press secretary, from the chief of staff that reflected the rob porter that we have come to know working here for over a year. the reports are troubling. the statement from wednesday night reflects the rob porter that we had seen in the news reports and some of the credible allegations. >> so to be clear, what was so shocking that changed? he said shocking. >> it's the full nature of the allegation, particularly the images. >> just answer one more thing. you talked about the fact there weren't any concerns that could

compromise national security or interfere with operations at the white house. we spoke with one of porter's ex-wives that she warned the fbi that she could be susceptible to blackmail -- >> i'm not going to get into the specifics 0 the investigation. that's a question for the fbi and others, this is not our process. this is the process the u.s. government use as cross agencies and has existed over numerous administrations. >> shepard: i want to clarify what the you're saying. are you saying the chief of staff of this white house had no idea that rob porter's two ex-wives had domestic violence violations against him when they made those claims to the fbi, that john kelly did not know that? how the it the chief of staff didn't know it? >> this part of an ongoing background investigation. the chief of staff does not get detailed updates about what may or may not have been alleged, this is a process that has

thorough investigations. >> the white house had said yesterday that porter wasn't pressured to resign. would rob porter still be on the job today had he not decided to resign? >> rob porter was terminated yesterday. >> he resigned -- >> his last day was yesterday. he came in today to clear out his stuff. >> would he still be on the job? >> he offered his resignation and it was accepted. >> in term of the chief of staff's handling of this, no regrets? >> i think the second statement that he sent out reflected his thoughts, which is that these allegations are troubling, shocking. the first statement reflected the rob porter that we have known. >> let me ask you if i can follow up on that. as you came out here yesterday or sarah sanders was coming out here yesterday, you were releasing a statement from rob

porter saying he took those photographs. that appears to be an acknowledgement that the abuse took place. that he helped document. how can the white house still be standing behind him when mr. porter appeared to be acknowledging that she had -- >> i think it's fair to say that we all could have done better over the last few days in dealing with this situation. you know, this was the rob porter that i and many others have deal with, that sarah dealt with, that other officials including chief of staff dealt with. the emerging reports were not reflective of the individual who we had come to know. >> raj, did the president know that rob was using -- was working on a temporary clearance -- >> no. the president was -- saw the news report tuesday night and informed of the resignation on wednesday. he was saddened by it. you know, saddened for all the

individuals involved. >> the last year, is that ever something that was he was concerned about -- >> he was not informed about the specifics regarding rob porter's security clearance. >> do you have any information on how many senior white house staffers are currently working under an interim security -- >> i got into the security clearance process as much as i'm allowed to discuss it. i'm not going further. >> what is the white house's reaction to omarosa who said she's haunted by the president's tweets and said it's sad in the white house and said it's not going to be okay. >> not very seriously. omarosa was fired three times on "the apprentice" and this is the fourth time we let her go. she had limited contact with the president while here. she has no contact right now. >> raj, we were told that rob porter was going to stay on awhile and oversee a transition

period. now you're saying he was terminated yesterday. what changed? >> i think that we've looked at the things that are necessary to ensure a smooth transition. there will be a new acting staff secretary to name later on and operations can continue smoothly. >> over the last week, we talked about the limit on green cards. everyone has been talking about illegal immigrants. what is the latest? >> i think the president wants to see legal immigration reform, wants to see it move from a process that currently exists in law of extended family chain migration to merit-based immigration reforms. we want to make sure the people coming in are the best and the brightest regardless of nationality, creed, religion or anything else in between.

we want to look at educational background, ability to contribute to the work force in a way that helps american workers. the president wants to see reforms that improve america's economy. noah? >> normally when you hire people, do you wait for the investigation to come back before hiring them? is the burden of proof not on the people seeking the job to prove they're qualify and don't have skeletons in the closet or do you want to see -- >> the process tends to be a little bit different with the white house because there's a lot of officials coming in with the new administration. a lot of individuals coming in have an interim clearance. >> what about women who don't have photographs? do you trust their stories? because a lot of times you haven't been at the podium but sarah said that allegations weren't credible from other people. do you need a photograph and what should -- how should women feel if they don't have a photograph? >> i don't think a standard

applies. we take allegations of domestic violence, other issues like that very seriously. we're concerned about them. in this instance of rob porter, we relied on the process. the process wasn't completed so we relied on the information we had. >> two questions on two different things. i want to understand, you used the term "fully aware." what does that mean? >> i do know for instance that he had not seen images prior to his -- the statement tuesday night. >> the allegations? or -- >> say again. >> did he know of some of the allegations -- >> i'm not going to get into the specifics of what emerged. >> you used the word fully aware. >> i'm saying on images. i don't have every detail and i'm not going to get into early specific. we relied on a process. this is what is used throughout the u.s. government. a process used by every agency seeking a security clearance.

rob porter was never denied a security clearance, he was never given any special treatment. the process was still john going. we relied upon it. >> on capitol hill members and their staffs are saying that because the court case regarding daca is now -- meaning that the administration is now accepting daca applications again, that they feel there's breathing room and that march 5 is no longter deadline. >> march 5 is the deadline. >> and what will happen if they haven't done anything by then? >> we say they haven't done anything what do you mean? >> if congress hasn't acted by march 5, what will happen? >> we fully expect congress to take action on the president's immigration reform frame work. >> raj, two questions. i want to follow up. you said the president's issue of violence against women seriously. why did this administration close the women's against

violence office when he became president? he shut down the women as well as girl's office as well. >> i don't know specifically why those offices may have been closed. look, i did talk to the president earlier today. he told me he was saddened by these records and by the information that he saw, by the images that he saw. we take violence against women and these types of allegations seriously. your second question. >> the interim security clearance, does that allow rob porter to be able to touch at the time while he was -- to touch and see classified material? >> it would, yes. >> i want to turn your attention back to the hill. republicans have said for years there needs to be fiscal restraint. now we know the deficit for the fiscal year is going to reach a trillion dollars. we have the house freedom caucus

saying growing by 13% adds to the congress, not draining it. this is not what the american people sent us to do. is the president concerned about this spending? and what exactly is your plan to pay for it? >> he is concerned about spending in washington. he's expressed that for years. let me say off the bat, we support the two-year spending bill that is being discussed and voted on in the house and senate. it lifts the caps on defense spending, which is something that the secretary of defense, the president's generals have told them that they need to ensure that we rebuild our military and protect our national security. with respect to deficits, no, we're going to be releasing a budget monday. the budget does move us to a path of restoring fiscal responsibility. reduces our deficit by trillions. i'm not going to get more specific. you'll get more monday. it does incorporate these budget caps, incorporates a tax bill and our other priorities. so we do think that that budget

will outline the path to our fiscal responsibility. >> you're still going to be running deficits and now you have the cap to raise. is it economic growth -- >> economic growth is essential to cutting deficits. again, the budget will outline more detail. >> what can you tell us about the involvement of the white house communications director? you have the defense issued by the chief of statement, the statement from sarah sanders on the podium. what can you tell us about the extend to which the communications director was involved in crafting the statements? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics. all the statements were crafted by a number of senior white house officials. >> you repeatedly referred to the denials of rob porter. how much weight were those given in the white house? >> i think you have to take

allegations seriously. you have to take denials seriously. again, statements reflected are experienced with rob porter and other officials experienced with rob porter. again, looking at more of the reporting and looking at more facts emerging, you saw the chief of staff's statement and the white house did accept his resignation. margaret? >> thanks. a couple more questions about this issue. can you -- sounds like you're saying the investigation is ongoing. that's right? >> now that he's been terminated, i don't think it continues. i can get back to you on specifics. >> i guess what i was going to ask, once the investigation is completed and you're satisfied and you know the answers, can you elaborate on the first time anyone mentioned this to the president when, you know -- >> any issues regarding his security clearance weren't brought up till tuesday. >> so does the president retain

full confidence in his chief of staff, the communications director, the white house counsel? >> yes. the president has confidence in his staff. >> and questions on the spending plan. as i understand it not withstanding what the budget will say, the u.s. will have to borrow more than a trillion dollars a year and could affect markets globally. does the president feel confident that they -- do you dispute that and does the president feel that is -- >> i refer you to the treasury. some of the numbers have more than the previous administration's accounting than this industrial's policies. i will say we're committed to fiscal discipline and the budget will show that in greater detail. >> back to mr. porter. if i understood your description of the background check process

correctly, the fact that the two ex-wives had made statements to the fbi about the investigation was not a disqualifying factor in his initial hiring. does the white house regret that and going forward to you plan to change the way you consider allegations of domestic abuse? >> understand the background investigation was not completed. there was no determination made about rob porter's security clearance. there was not a thumbs up or thumbs down. there was no denial of a security clearance. he was operating off an interim clearance. a declareenc that many would have when they come to the white house. every allegation has to be investigated and any denial has to be thoroughly -- >> shepard: this news conference will stream live on foxnews.com. live to the big board. the dow is down more than 1,000 points. now officially in correction

territory. "your world" with neil cavuto, fair and balanced with context and perspective starting now. >> neil: all right. we're having another one of those what the hell happened moments here at the corner of wall and broad. we're monitoring this presser, most of questions, virtually all of them, blake burman had to do with rob porter and the allegations. we're going to continue to follow that. suffice it to say the dow is inches away from a full 10% correction and with the better than 1,000 fall off there, it could happen and be the i's dotted and t's crossed. a lot of this has to do with good news. that strikes you as odd. but this point decline which represents a little more than a