. >> less than eight hours ago the white house released several statements praising robert porter's service. why would the president except his resignation -- accept his resignation if he thinks he did nothing wrong? is one he wasthat not pressured to do, but one he made on his own. >> did he have a security clearance? sec. sanders: i am not sure why this is complicated. in many circumstances, as has always been the policy at the white house, we don't discuss security clearances one way or the other. >> can i ask you about the democratic memo? we understand chief of staff kelly eliminated this memo was different than the republican memo was. general kelly said it is not as clean as the gop memo. republicans are saying it contains a substantial number of references to sources. do you believe the white house is being put in a position by the democratic minority forcing you to make reductions or hold back this memo? makesanders: i will not speculations at this point. we are still going through the process we went through with republican memo. once that is completed, we will have something furt

called white house counsel in recent weeks to inform him of some of the abuse allegations against robert porterere that information went aened how high up is unclear. the source i spoke with said clearly it wasn't handled properly. clearly it didn't go up high enough because he continued to work here and the white house continued to come to his defense once the allegations came out in the public. the source i spoke with said that morale has been low in the white house today just given all that's unfolded and the fact that the chief of staff and other senior white house aides, the fact that white house ko counsel was made aware or received a phone call alleging that robert porter was physically abusive and verbally abusive and the fact the white house stood by him publicly for 24 hours, at least, before john kelly put out the statement acknowledging the domestic abuse has really impacted the morale here at the white house. one source called it communication malpractice the way it's been handled. >> i believe the girlfriend is the one who reached out to jenny willoughby and also to rob porter's f

called white house counsel, don mcgann, to inform him of some of the abuse allegations against robert porter. now where that information went and how high up is unclear. but the source i spoke with said clearly it wasn't handled properly, clearly it didn't go up high enough, because he continued to work here and the white house continued to come to his defense once these allegations came out in the public. the source i spoke with said that morale has been low in the white house today, just given all that has unfolded, the fact that john kelley, the chief of staff, aides, revolutions they knew about, at least part of these allegations months ago, the fact that white house counsel was made aware or received a phone call from the ex-girlfriend alleging that robert porter was physically abusive and verbally abusive. and then the fact that the white house stood by him publicly for 24 hours, at least, before john kelley put out the statement acknowledging the domestic abuse, has really impacted the morale here at the white house. one source i spoke with called it communication malpractice, the way

a couple of weeks ago, robert porter, another senior member of donald trump's team and had to resignfter allegations of domestic abuse. he had the same security interim clea ra nce had the same security interim clearance that the president's son—in—law has had and there were claims that the time that mr parker might have held himself open to potential blackmail because of his private life. it's a very sensitive position to be in the upper edge lines of the white house, and certainly involves access to top—secret documents. it won't any more. and the president's daily briefing, will it change the way he operates everyday in the white house? according to his lawyer, no won't. although it's difficult how he could be a syria adviser or especially on foreign affairs, he's been working on issues to do with mexico, china and the middle east and the dealing with the president directly on that. presumably he won't have the same access as the president will have two key information on those important issues. and we know that mr kushner has got a lot of question mark hanging over him when it co

others are not so pleased with kelly's job as chief of staff and say he should have known that robert porter, the staff secretary with very close access to the sect -- to the president, had accusations of domestic violence from two ex-wives. >> from what i understand, john kelly's story is that he did something within the first 40 minutes after the first 14 minutes -- 14 months of ignoring it. there is no way he did not know about this. he chose not to deal with it. that is not competence. >> reporter: porter has said these allegations are outrageous and simply false but he resigned on wednesday hours after pictures were made public of one of his ex-wives with a black eye. it is what she says was inflicted by him. officials say porter initially delighted -- denied the accusations and that was before the pictures came out. here is how one trip advisor said the president reacted to the pictures.>> the president is very disturbed by what he sees. you can feel that somebody did a great job for you. you can talk about somebody's competence and work product and that is what the president did in hi

reporter: kelly put new clearance rules in place after the disclosure that former staff secretary robert porterad abtained an interim security clearance, despite his f.b.i. background check that had revealed domestic abuse allegations by two ex-wives. a spokesperson for kushner told cbs news that, "those involved in the process again have confirmed that there are dozens of people at mr. kushner's level whose process is delayed." >> glor: margaret, doe know if jared kushner's background check raised any red flags? >> reporter: well, no red flag, per se, but that final approval is still being delayed. the president himself on friday blamed some of that on complex financial transactions and a broken system. but as to his ongoing role as an adviser to the president, multiple administration officials have raised concern that kushner may be naive or even easily manipulated because he doesn't have experience on some of the incredibly complex foreign policy issues that he is involved with. jeff. >> glor: our white house correspondence and moderator of "face the nation," margaret brennan. thank you very

.>>> robert porter has resigned after allegations he abused two ex-wives.'s first wife said she suffered abuse during their five year marriage. she said he punched her during a trip to italy. his second wife got a protective order in 2010 after he refused to leave their apartment following a separation agreement. porter has denied allegations.>>> the sheriff's office is investigating the death of an inmate at the martinez detention facility. the sheriff's office tweeted that the death appears to be due to a medical issue happening between or before 2 pm this afternoon.>>> $65,000 awarded to a convict did murder after learning oh prison worker turned her into a sex slave. she said he forced her to trading sex acts for a lawyer. the abuse started in 2010 and he became a clerk who taught janitorial skills where she no longer works. she is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder and robbery.>>> new information in san francisco. former ceo testified against uber. it is accusing uber of stealing trade secrets for driverless car technology. former uber ceo

. >> laura: want to ask you quickly about this deal with robert porter and this whole thing with his it might be different from what the administration initially said, what's going on with these security clearances and individuals who are still working in the white house without security clearances -- is that normal? >> is not normal for people to be working and an extended period of time without a full security clearance. the white house evidently said the fbi investigation was continuing. it looks like according to what director ray says they had wrapped it up last year. >> laura: great insights as >> laura: great insights as always, wefor 100 years, herita and innovation have made gillette the #1 shave in america. now get gillette quality at lower prices - every day. brought to you by more than a thousand workers in boston. we're proud of giving you our best. gillette - the best a man can get. >> laura: great news, shaun white claimed his third gold medal in olympic men's half pipe, the first american male to win gold at three separate winter olympics, that is so awesome. that's a

.>> robert porter has resigned amid allegations he abused two of his ex- wives.'wife said she endured physical and emotional abuse during the five-year marriage saying he punched her during a trip to florence over 10 years ago. his second wife got an emergency protective order against him in 2010 after he refused to leave the apartment following a separation agreement. he strongly denies the allegations.>>> a deadly shooting that may be connected to a oakland marijuana grow operation. how the investigation will center around surveillance video and a key found on the man who was killed.>>> a problem you would see if you walked a few blocks in san francisco. needles littering the sidewalks of. the first to put in safe injection sites for users.>>> she won half of a billion dollars and a powerball lottery but has refused to collect all of her money. what she is fighting for before she she is fighting for before she gets ♪ strummed guitar you can't experience the canadian rockies through a screen. you have to be here, with us. ♪ upbeat music travel through this natura

volatile weeks because of this rob porter upheaval since the very early days when people were leaving. on friday we had resignations and ousters. it felt very tense. robert: rob porter wasn't jus another aid. he was someone who controlled the paper flow. clean cut. the senior advisor to the president. close with general kelly. his removal is not just an embarrassment for the white house, not just a troubling situation but he was part of that knew clouse that runs -- nucleus that runs the wushite >> the truth is he was given the benefit of the doubt in part because h seemed very professional. he seemed very reliable, very competent, mature in a white house that is kind ofna dysfunct so onkelly relied on him and -- john kelly relied on him and was willing to overlook some things because they need him. we got before air, rachel brand just resigned today. she wod be the person who would step in if rod s rosenen were somehow fired which we spent a lot o timwondering about. so another big blow to creating a coherent team that can move forward on all these big priorities. >> don mcgan, what's his status with the talk about the time line? >> based on my conversa

multiple reports top white house officials knew robert porter didn't have a full security clearance because of domestic abuse allegations and still allowed him to keep his job. this as one of porter's ex-wives is speaking out on the "today" show. >> we had been fighting and rob followed me to the shower and pulled me out of the shower to continue the rage and immediately saw how scared i was and recognized what he was doing and released it but that was the moment when i realized he didn't have control. >>> while you were sleeping, the government shut down for just a few hours for the second time in as many weeks because one republican senator objected. to dramatize his opposition to ballooning deficits, although he voted for the trillion dollar plus tax cut. >> i ran for office because i was very critical of president obama's trillion dollar deficits. now we have republicans hand in hand with democrats offering us trillion dollar deficits. >>> frozen. as the world watches, vice president mike pence gives the cold shoulder to kim jong-un's sister while he tells lester holt the olympic games

defending these two white house staffers who have now resigned over this domestic abuse allegations, robert porter and david sorensen. you talked about a pattern, whether it was roy moore allegations and the president, you know, really questioning the veracity of those accusations and the credibility of the accusers. there was corey lewandowski who was accused of assaulting a reporter. the president also defended bill o'reilly when he was accused of harassment. i mean, this pattern of defending people who have been facing allegations of sexual misconduct, of domestic abuse, i mean, what is the message that this white house or this president is sending overall as a it pertains to the seriousness of these alleged crimes. >> i think the message that the white house is sending, these crimes are not serious. you haven't heard the president address the women once -- >> is there a feeling he can't because to the accusations lodged against him. the access hollywood tape where he admits to touching women and grabbing women inappropriately or the allegations from a handful of other women who have said he ha

, there may have been no one with more daily access to the president of the united states than robert porter announced his resignation following allegations of physical abuse by his two former wives, allegations he denies. the white house including chief of staff john kelly is left answering questions about its knowledge of those allegations during his employ and those allegations prevented him from getting a security clearance. porter has held the position since the start of the trump administration. his role was strengthened under john kelly and he was instrumental along with kelly in vetting any information that would reach the president's desk. porter reportedly helped draft president trump's state of the union address last week. he traveled with the president to davos instead of john kelly. according to reports in both the intercept and "the daily mail," both of his former wives told the fbi of their allegations of abuse. his first wife colby holden provided this photo to both "the daily mail" and the interat the present time of a bruised eye she said occurred when porter punched her du

president trump, you gave robert porter due process, that's why you let him remain on the job. and as a practical matter, you could have said, well, we are going to -- we think there's still more due process to run out here, so he will stay on the job until i as a president think otherwise. that could have happened. >> april, what is left to this story? what are the questions still unanswered and that the public needs to know about, do you think? >> there are a lot of questions. you know, what is is the vetting process, number one, for this administration? you know, there are high standards that were in place for other administrations in bringing people on. also, you know, when you consider someone who has a blemish on their record, their personal record, their criminal record, what is the standard for that. you know, because not only was it rob porter, we had a speechwriter in the environmental quality office counsel who also had to resign because of allegations that he had abuse issues against his then-wife, his ex-wife, so there are a lot of questions going around as to how

. >> laura: want to ask you quickly about this deal with robert porter and this whole thing with hisof abuse. the timeline it might be different from what the administration initially said, what's going on with these security clearances and individuals who are still working in the white house without security clearances -- is that normal? >> is not normal for people to be working and an extended period of time without a full security clearance. the white house evidently said the fbi investigation was continuing. it looks like according to what director ray says they had wrapped it up last year. >> laura: great insights as always, we have a lot more to get to, will be right back. r, it could be wearing on you. tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to

in this meeting, he sat to clarify his role in the handling of robert porter's departure here from the white house. he told staffers this morning, according to a source familiar with the matter, that he handled situation with porter within 40 minutes of seeing that picture of one of rob porter's ex-wives with a black eye, he said, within that timeframe. that is when he secured porter's resignation from the white house. as you'll recall, though, sarah sanders said that he would then be staying on board for a while to ensure a smooth transition. the next day, the deputy press secretary said that porter had been terminated. it's been all over the map here in terms of what exactly happened. some of the staffers walked away from this meeting, feeling as though kelly's portrayal of events was accurate in how he handled it. others, though, were not so convinced. they felt like he wasn't being fully forthcoming. white house officials over the last couple of days have said privately that kelly actually wanted rob porter to stay on board, that he didn't want him to leave and that he wanted to fi

then the white house would decide whether to give that security clearance the permanent one to robert portersochlt my outstanding question is, we haven't been able to get an answer to, whether that actually happened. whether those findings were communicated. >> and pam quickly before we go, sarah sanders refused to say when he's going to leave. said he's going to leave but not immediate. so a guy still out there working with the president and highly classified stuff. being paid for by taxpayers. i mean, seriously? not leaving immediately. >> yeah, i think that raise the some eyebrows when sarah sanders said at the podium. he turned in his resignation but not leaving immediately ensure a smooth transition. these are serious allegations physical and verbal abuse. and i think it is shock toga lot of people. i know we've spoken today in the white house that he isn't leaving immediately. >> tlauhank you all three. >>> and next republicans slamming president trump for the debt and now chump change. >>> and what about the parade, people are calling it, quote, cheesy. n place. the ibm cloud. the clo

the president saying robert porter was a good worker and he wishes him well isn't hopefully he'll have great career ahead of him, but it was very sad when we heard about it. >> reporter: rob porter might be gone. but his presence is still very much felt at the white house. the staff secretary resigning this week as allegations of spousal abuse went public. before his departure porter work closely with president trump and john kelly. and now there are questions about how long officials knew about the accusations. >> there's no question they can have handled it better. it seems like the process they were supposed to have in place failed. >> reporter: porter accused of by two ex wives of abuse, the white house says president trump of the allegations tuesday. but sources say kelly was aware of the allegation which porter denies but hadn't seen the photos. >> rob porter is no longer at the white house and that's the right decision. >> reporter: kelly initially defend porter but later sending a letter to administration employees reading "domestic violence is abhorrent and had a nos place in

that, he only would say that he didn't -- he hadn't seen the picture of the black eye of one of robert porter's ex-wives. i can tell you though that sources say that chief of staff john kelly and other senior white house aides knew at least some of the allegations, knew at least some of them this past fall. knew about the ex-wives and the verbal and physical abuse. but rob porter all along had strongly denied these allegations and had said that it was a smear campaign but it certainly has raised questions why more wasn't done earlier, why he continued to work here at the white house with that interim security clearance. i should note that the president according to the white house did not find out about this until this week. he is upset that it was handled particularly by his chief of staff. there was the one statement tuesday night and then as you pointed out, there was the follow up statement last night where it seemed as though john kelly was sort of backtracking and acknowledging the domestic abuse and the victims in this case. >> i get another question for you, pamela. it involves -- we ha

of chaos in trump administration amid charges of domestic abuse against president trump's aide robert portertrump moves ahead in downsizing the federal workforce. negotiation continues over immigration reform, daca, welfare reform, infrastructure and trade heating up, president pushing to make it

this president is saying -- >> robert porter did not have a security clearance, full-time security clearancecisely because of these allegations. they knew this. we know that john kelly knew this. we know that don mcgahn, the white house counsel, knew this because they couldn't get this man full security. so, did they need the photo evidence to finally turn on the guy? >> is that the case? >> absolutely. the white house didn't believe this until that photo. and it wasn't just john kelly defending rob porter. sarah huckabee sanders probably the most high profile woman in the white house, the press secretary issued a statement praising his character as well. >> wow. >> but the irony here is the person who handled this in that presidential leadership moment, the best is probably the vice-president who is half a world away in south korea. >> and says nothing about it. >> who knew nothing about it but when asked about the situation, he said there is zero tolerance in the white house or in this country for domestic violence and those are words we've never heard president trump say. >> very signific

multiple reports top white house officials knew robert porter didn't have a full security clearance becausef domestic abuse allegations and still allowed him to keep his job. this as one of porter's ex-wives is speaking out on the "today" show. >> we had been fighting and rob followed me to the shower and pulled me out of the shower to continue the rage and immediately saw how scared i was and recognized what he was doing and released it but that was the moment when i realized he didn't have control. >>> while you were sleeping, the government shut down for just a few hours for the second time in as many weeks because one republican senator objected. to dramatize his opposition to ballooning deficits, although he voted for the trillion dollar plus tax cut. >> i ran

. >> and we continue to follow the breaking news about the resignation of trump aide robert porter. you are watching msnbc. we'll be right back. when it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path? we have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, so with our doctors we chose prolia® to help make our bones stronger. only prolia® helps strengthen bones by stopping cells that damage them with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions, like low blood pressure; trouble breathing; throat tightness; face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium; serious infections, which could need hospitalization; skin probl

and that the ex-wives of robert porter had told the fbi nearly i guess a year ago, erin, about what happened, the specifics of what happened. it would be a shock if that was not raised to the white house during rob porter's tenure here over the last year or so. so today's press briefing raised a lot of questions, raised more questions than answered in many ways about why it was handled the way it was the and why john kelly did not conduct internal review earlier if he knew about the allegations as our sources say. now the white house said today they wanted fbi to continue its investigations. it said that it felt that was the proper channel for this to be investigated. but it certainly begs the question why rob porter was able to continue his work at the white house with interim security clearance continuing as sort of arising star here at the white house just recentsly working on the state of the union address when these allegations were surrounding him. erin. >> all right. thank you very much. pamela. outfront now gloria bore gear. it's hard to understand this, so if you know there is claim

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

staff secretary rob porter who announced his resignation yesterday admitted domestic abuse allegations is now officially out. today chief white house correspondent john roberts spoke with porter's first wife. >> the white house confirmed staff secretary rob porter has left after resigning yesterday, adding that the president first learned of the allegations against porter on tuesday night. >> he was surprised. he, like many of us, did not see that and rob porter. did not see what these allegations have brought forward. he was surprised by it, disheartened, saddened. >> that spotlight shifted to senior staff including john kelly and when he learned of the allegations. >> he became fully aware yesterday. not going to get into specifics regarding who may have known what pieces of information because they were all part of an ongoing background check investigation. i think we all became aware of the news reports that emerged wednesday morning and some of the graphic images. >> reporter: did he know any of this in november? >> not going to get into specifics. >> not going to say when kelly or other staff became aware of the allegations but colbie holderness told f

surrogates of donald trump explain away his saturday morning tweet appearing to defend white house aide robert porter with. >> if we list ton one more kellyanne conway sound bite, he's on abc's "this week" on whether or not trump accusers should get due process, here's kellyanne again. >> do the president's accusers deserve due process. >> those accusers have had their day i don't need a tlek tour from kirsten gillibrand or anybody else who protectnd a president who sexual relations in the oval office. i don't need a lecture from everybody or anybody else. and let's call this for what it is. it's a democratic party berift of any accomplishment. >> there's a piv tote democrats. it's a pivot to bill clinton. it's hard to get anyone in the administration to directly answer the questions about rob porter and donald trump. that approach. it works with the fox news crowd. does it work in a larger context? >> no. and we don't need to worry about that kind of monster, kellyanne conway will say whatever for money. disregard her. this is a turning point with two different staffers. these charges dredged up the

around reporting wise about background checks at the white house and what may have complicated robert porter'sd check was that he didn't have a criminal record per se, he had allegations from these women that the white house was certainly aware of according to some officials there. at the same time, the president himself i'm told by my sources has the prerogative, he can make the decision to keep someone on if they're in limbo situation with regard to their background check so what the president knew about rob porter's status, what his background check was, what the white house counsecounsel'se knew, what john kelly knew, these are questions that have to be answered in the coming days. >>> with less than 24 hours to go until the deadline until the latest government shutdown, leaders in the senate have struck a deal to avoid dealing with this sort of issue for the near future. the senate is expected to vote on a two-year measure today that boosts military and non-defense spending by $300 billion and includes money for infrastructure and fighting the nationwide opioid epidemic. the figure marks

rob porter leaves his post after accusations of domestic abuse by two ex-wives. latest from john roberts>> allegations against rob porter have been floating around the white house for some time. they reached critical mass on tuesday night into wednesday want to photograph. let's put it on the screen for you. colbie holderness, you see her there with a black eye. she said she got it on vacation with her ex-husband rob porter in italy. they had an argument and he punched her in the eye. she said she got porter to take this picture of herself right after that hit, she says because she wanted to have evidence that ever happened again. then she took these photographs herself of the bruise. today, the president's reaction was that of surprise. >> we could have done better over the last few days in dealing with this situation but this is a rob porter the diet many others have dealt with. sarah dealt with, many other officials including the chief of staff. emerging reports were not reflective of the individual we had come come to know. >> in the white house became aware of this is a question bec

robert: more intrigue in theho white. they're scramble over rob porter, the former statue secretary who faced accusations of abuse. general john kell illinois said they're trying to change up the whole security process. it's still pretty hazy on that issue. >> it is. there were rumors flying that john kelly might be gone by tend of the week. now well the release of this memo, which you obtain earlier today outliningha the changes they're going to make to the security clearance process, which has clearly been a problem. i took that as a sign that they knew they had to get out aheado some of theis things. that if that salt there for a week or two, they would be under tremendous pressure to guy -- try to do something. robert: let's turn to the stalemate overmmigration because that was another big story this week. this week, theat s failed to advance four immigration bills, cluding one backed by president and asa bipar approach. the trump-endorsed bill spann sponsored bill republica senator chuck grassley of iowa checked the boxes of the president's four pil

hear a lot more grousing about john kelly that stems even before this -- sorry, this rob porter situation. >> robert costa, another man under harsh scrutiny for what he knew and when he knew it, white house counsel don mcgahn. let's watch and talk on the other side. >> don mcgahn over a period of months was told repeatedly by the ex-girlfriend, by the fbi, by others in the white house of all these accusations and didn't do anything. can you explain why no action was taken by don mcgahn, the chief white house lawyer? >> those allegations that have been reported are not accurate. >> not accurate. i mean, here's what happens in every normal white house. jim mussina is here so i can speak for him, too, how it worked in the clinton white house. when something comes up in a background check, the fbi flags it to the white house counsel's office. white house counsel usually flags the manager. white house communications director would get the word from the white house counselor chief of staff would be in the loop. but they're just flat out saying that's not true. it seems like for all the holes in the time l

robert cable. jill holman. pose a cunningham. peter from florida. kathleen king. randy evans, georgia. ginger howard. john watson. margaret metcalf. uz.tor cr idaho, damon watkins. jonathan parker. illinois, richard porter. tim schneider. indiana, john hammond. iowa, steve shepard.

esto walk us through the l developments is robert costa, host of "washington weekand porter for the "washington post."ob sot, what does this mean? what clearance does jared bernstein lose? >> he has been having abscess for over a year in the white juse to classified materials. now he wilt have a secret designation. at's a downgrade from h current designation. he's been going with this interim clearance for a year, but general john kelly, the chief of staff, has moved to try to tighten up this whole process inside of the west wing. >> amaka: donow what that means in terms of what he can still see and what he can no longer see? >> the white hoe maintains that kushner will be able to work on mexico relations with the united states, will ctinue to work on middle east peace, but this will be narrower scope his clearance inside of the white house. he will not have access to top-secret classified information in the same way that e president will in the coming months.f: >> woodro how do the folks you're talking to think that affects his job, the work j's able to do? >> it wasd bernstein. his

porter's two ex-wives have accused him of domestic violence and a girlfriend as well. chief white house correspondent john robertss live with the latest on this. >> we were watching the intelligence committee meeting there in the senate. we saw christopher wray come out but all sort of taken aback because as a single statement really just completely blew up the timeline that the white house has been giving us about this rob porter file on the investigation into his security clearance. the white house has insisted it did not know the full allegations against rob porter which includes the allegation that he punched his first wife in the eye giving her a black eye. the white house is unaware of all of that. we are told until last tuesday what's more, the white house is insisting the investigation into porter's clearance was ongoing, had not been completed. listen to what the fbi director said about an hour and half ago. >> the fbi submitted a partial report in march and completed a background investigation in late july that as soon thereafter, we received a request for follow-up inquiry into the follow-up and provid

robert e. lee. he now has issued the statement defending rob porter and had to walk it back. there is tons about his abuse. the very reason he is there is now called into question. you can imagine trump has been already at some of the patronizing statements kelly made about how trump has evolved in his ideas about the wall because of briefings that kelly gave him. this is in the washington post. it's about white house council. in january 2017 when he learned of the allegations he wanted porter to stay put because he saw the capitol hill veteran. it is according to people familiar with the matter. his view didn't change in june when the fbi flagged some of the findings to the white house for did he act in december when he learned they were porter's security clearance or in november when porter's former girlfriend contacted him about the allegations? >> i can certainly understand why a calm demeanor is a premium asset. for all of these jobs they are all about integrity and judgment. i really don't know what to say about that. >> it has been talked about over the past 48 hours.

robert e. lee. how have things changed since this incident with rob porter? >> clearly it was on that downslope to begin with. this is a relationship that was fraught from the beginning because donald trump doesn't like to be managed. while general kelly said his job is not to manage the president, it's to manage the staff, donald trump called friends and advisers and said i've got another nut job thinking he's running things. there was a meme against trump allies that it was this president kelly idea that he was the true power in the white house and that's what got steve bannon into trouble and that's what's getting john kelly into trouble. how does this change things, we'll still see. this morning i heard he's looking for replacements for chief of staff. possibly kevin mccarthy, mark meadows. while the administration publicly is saying the president has confidence in him, we should point out he has confidence in john kelly until he doesn't. >> how much determinism does the president have of who his chief of staff is going to be. john kelly was brought to th

porter situation at all. chief white house correspondent john roberts is live at the white house. john? >> harris, good afternoon to you. the white house has had trouble coming up with a consistent explanation for this, and we are now on day 8 of this scandal. when it first broke auto aweek ago today the white house did all it could, at least as much as it could to try to put out the initial fire. hold that fire line for a while, but then the white house quickly became overwhelmed again and yesterday it got taken up to another notch when fbi director christopher wray took the extraordinary step in a congressional hearing of throwing the white house under the bus laying out a time line that contradicted what the press secretary had been saying for the previous six days. so far the white house has been fortunate in that it has only had to explain what happened to the news media. but now it's going to have to explain it to a congressional committee headed by republican. south carolina congressman trey gowdy sending a letter to the chief of staff john kelly here at the white house asking fo

second quarter sixers down by nine, robert covington, the ball pass toss embiid, with the lay up, sixers down by seven. final seconds of the first half, auto porterup by 19 at the half. third quarter washington up by 21, sixers fail to get back on defense, bradley deal gets slamming home, too, wizards up by 23. end of the quarter. jo-jo goes for the three. cut the lead to 14. he led the sixers with a 25-point and ten rebounds, but the sixers seven game winning streak is over. 109-94 the final. next up for the sixers the heat tomorrow in miami. that's all for sport, i'm lesley van arsdall, have a great day. >> and the phillies have name their opening day starter, it will be righthander aaron nola went 12 and 11 last season with 184 strikeouts, 160 innings. yesterday he faced the yankees in his first time this spring. and allowed three runs, and two innings every work. they won the game eight to three, phils and yankees meet in tampa again tonight. >> welcoming up in the next half hour of "eyewitness news ," new information on the fate of the wine scene company now that talks to sell it have fallen glue and we'll tell you more about samsung newest

porter investigation was, quote, ongoing. >> a lot to go over this morning. john roberts is live at the white house with the very latest. good morning, john. >> good morning. the white house still responding a week later to this story about what was known by whom and when about rob porter and why the timeline keeps shifting. no decision has been made yet suggestions were being kicked around last night that perhaps it would be a good idea to have john kelly and the white house counsel don mcgahn come out and brief the press. there is a possibility. 1:00 this afternoon when we have that briefing the kelly and mcgahn could come out. this has all been kicked up a notch with the announcement that trey gowdy has opened an investigation into porter's tenure here. he sent a letter to john kelly asking for information about the circumstances surrounding porter's employment and the policy and practices that the white house uses for personnel with security clearance. gowdy is also looking for a timeline. listen here. >> i would want to know from don mcgahn and general kelly and anyone else, what did you know? from whom did you hea

and we have learned porter was being considered for a promotion right up until his resignation. john robertslong with with all of this. >> we are almost ended a 7 here, something a lot of people think the white house should have been put able to put away. sources tell fox news that they were considering expanding the royalty can include some of the duties of deputy chief of staff john carroll to be the drugs are -- the week -- before that, actually. same allegations against porter were not known until recently, prompting a competing narrative. a day after the white house suggested the fbi failed to illuminate the allegations against rob porter in a timely fashion, fbi director christopher wray tried to turn the white house under bus. >> the fbi submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march, and then a completed background investigation in late july that come out soon thereafter, we received follow-up inquiry, and we did the follow-up and provided that information in november, and then we administratively close the file in january, and then earlier this month, we receiv

porter, who resigned over allegations of domestic abuse. we expect questions in the briefing about that when they knew about the allegations and what they did about them. john roberts is live on the north lawn. john? >> reporter: good afternoon, dana. that's one of the key questions is when did the white house know about all of this? i spoke with rob porter's first wife earlier today. she kind of laid out a timeline for me. she also provided for me, and for fox news, pictures that really changed the course of events here at the white house. this is a black eye that she told me rob porter, her then husband, gave her while they were on vacation in florence, italy. she said they had an argument in their hotel room and porter punched her. she was very definitive in her recollection of the story, insisting that that's the way it happened. but yesterday the white house telling a very different version of that same story. listen here. >> these outrageous allegations are simply false. i took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago. the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described. i have been transparent and truthful about these vile claims but

not long after this conversations began, the hammer fell on porter and he's gone from the white house, shep. >> shepard: all right, john roberts. thank you. appreciate it. let's turn to peter nicholas from the "wall street journal." the journal and fox news share common ownership. good afternoon. >> good to be with you, shep. >> shepard: as this timeline goes and timelines matter as we discussed yesterday, the photograph came out and then kelly says that he 40 minutes later acted and we know that what he did was a couple hours later. he issued a supportive statement. during that period, the white house called in four reporters to have a discussion. can you tell us about that? >> i can't talk about that aspect of it. it does seem clear -- >> michael bender was right? >> yeah. >> shepard: from the "wall street journal." just that it happened is -- you can't even talk -- i can talk about it happened. it happened. four reporters called in for an explanation was what was going on. the white house was working to construct a narrative even then. >> well, yeah. this has been something that the white house -- it's a huge embarrassment

roberts on the north lawn. see you in a few minutes. back to the fallout from the rob porter accusations. he's accused of beating his two previous wives by his two previous wives that have spoken with the fbi. the white house has known about this since november if not before. let's bring in jordan fabian. there seems to be a pattern here observed by "the new york times" this morning and others which -- they just observed it, that the president seems to take up for the guy in these things. there's roy moore, there's this, a couple of them around this building. there's a pattern. >> yeah. that's something that clearly angered some folks in the me too movement, this burgeoning movement of women that have spoke up against allegations of abuse ever since last year. it's something that democrats think that they can seize upon in the mid-terms. they think it can be a motivating issue for women. not necessarily this porter incident. taken together with the other incidents, it's something that they can use to get women motivated to go to the polls in november and elect democrats to office. >> shep

questions about the independence of robert mueller and his probe and to confirm that they will remain unaffected by politics. >>> let's talk john kelly amid the rob porterd he would offer his resignation if asked. a lot of people coming out of the white house saying the president fully supports john kelly. who do you think john kelly stays or goes or is it just a matter of time before he goes? >> john kelly has been such a pillar of stability for the trump white house for the past six months, i think that it would probably take another deaf stating blow to his credibility for him to be fired. of course, president trump is somewhat mercurial with his staffing choices. it's possible nothing more is required. but right now, i would say you shouldn't bet against john kelly, you shouldn't assume ooem he's going to be identitied. there are discussions of people who might be credible replace manies. >> let's switch gears for a moment, steve. i want to ask you about fiscal policy if i can. the republican party really has been at least in some analysis, shifting away from a party that was once based on a principal of eliminating the deaf sificit. do you expect t