Donald Trump aide forced to resign amid violent scandal
White House staff secretary Rob Porter has been forced to resign today after it was reported that he allegedly beat up two ex-wives, and that one of them had a protective restraining order against him. Porter is denying all of the accusations but he’s resigning over the scandal anyway. As the details surface, it turns out the real scandal is that Trump’s people knew about his history, including the restraining order, when they hired him.
CNN is reporting on-air that Porter has in fact resigned amid the violent scandal. Politico has dug deeper and learned that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly knew about the whole thing when he hired him for the White House job (link). People are legally considered innocent unless they’re convicted of something. But it’s extraordinarily difficult to believe that Kelly was merely giving this guy the benefit of the doubt when he hired him, because a judge saw enough evidence to grant the restraining order. This guy couldn’t even get the necessary White House security clearance because of it, yet Trump and Kelly kept him on the job anyway.
In general terms, if a guy has beaten women up, and you hire him, you’re putting every one of his female co-workers in physical danger. This is enough of a scandal that John Kelly must resign immediately. Furthermore, there must be an investigation to determine what Trump knew at the time. There are some reports that Porter has been dating Trump’s senior adviser Hope Hicks. Did she know about his allegedly violent past? Did Trump keep this information from her? If so, he may have put her safety in danger.
Of course Donald Trump has also been widely accused of violence toward women. Roughly twenty women and counting have accused him of various forms of sexual harassment or sexual assault. His ex-wife Ivana wrote a book accusing him of violently raping her.
