Kelly knew
Kelly knew about Rob Porter. He knew and did nothing; he didn’t care. Porter was unable to get a security clearance because of the allegations of violence toward women. The job Porter was doing absolutely requires a security clearance, because the Staff Secretary sees everything – all the security briefings and all the everything. Porter was doing the job without the necessary clearance, which he couldn’t get because his two former wives said he punched them. Oh and also? Hope Hicks was dating him, and she helped write the White House statement about his firing yesterday.
All totally fine, folks, just walk on, keep the sidewalks clear. Today is National Prayer Breakfast day, so Trump duly stood up and told everyone how awesome God is.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came amid growing questions about how the White House handled allegations of domestic violence against one of the president’s closest aides.
The White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, steadfastly defended the aide, Rob Porter, right up until Mr. Porter resigned on Wednesday. Officials now say the White House was aware of the charges against Mr. Porter, which contributed to a delay in granting him a security clearance for his post as staff secretary.
Just brilliant. One, they knew the guy in this sensitive job was accused of hitting women, and two, they knew that was why he had no security clearance, and three, they had him doing the job anyway. Maybe four will turn out to be that Russia has been blackmailing him all along.
Still, the president seemed entirely at ease with his audience. If anything, he has strengthened his position with evangelicals in the last year, in part because of the Jerusalem decision. They have shown unshakable support for him, even after reports that one of his associates paid hush money to a porn star with whom Mr. Trump had an affair before he became president. Mr. Trump has denied the affair.
Melania Trump is reported not to believe his denial. The “affair” is reported to have taken place weeks after Melania gave birth.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1808817662470020/?type=3&theater
But, hey, she probably didn’t have her figure back yet! What can you expect a man to do?
So much yuck. Hitting women. Grabbing women. Trash talking women. Ignoring women. Why? Because…well, women, amirite?
I never thought Obama did much for women, but I was grateful he made a few moves and did nothing to make things worse. For anyone in the country to prefer…this…woman hating monster over Hillary? I can understand not liking Hillary, because there are very few people that are not disliked by someone. I can even understand not thinking Hillary was the best candidate, and voting for a third party (though Jill Stein had some serious problems, a lot of people aren’t bothered by those things, and think either they are harmless or that they show the sign of a superior thinker….I leave you to fill in the punch line). I can…maybe…understand being so die-hard Republican that you will vote for the Republican candidate over the Democrat just because you think…I don’t know, it’s better to tax poor people than rich?… What I cannot, will not, do not understand is actually liking Donald J. Trump, as a candidate, as a TV celebrity, or as a man. He is a big brainless nothing in an ill fitting suit that has anger management issues and hates everyone that doesn’t worship him. Still, I have friends with high levels of education, intelligent and capable in many ways, who practically go into a swoon when his name is mentioned! This…this…is an obscenity. It makes me very suspicious of the people that say “Oh, I just love Trump!” How? Why?
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1808848599133593/?type=3&theater
We were waiting in an office reception area this morning, and they had a TV tuned to CNN, which was showing the prayer breakfast live. Trump was going on* about a girl who asked for prayers before some kind of major operation, and how the 70 million or whatever prayers that she got made the surgery successful. Nothing about the medical team, about the schools that educated them, about how they paid for their education, about how the family paid for the surgery….
*Reading from a script, of course, in his plodding way. Gawd but he’s an awful speaker.
#4. He wouldn’t praise the medical staff because the odds are that there were immigrants or 1st. generation Americans witth shithole origins amongst them.
I was actually (pleasantly) surprised when I first heard that.
Anyone know why? Is it just that any criminal background is grounds for denying a security clearance? Is domestic violence considered especially vulnerable to blackmail? Or is there a concern that someone who is volatile enough to abuse a partner is too erratic to be trusted with secrets?
Screechy Monkey, I don’t know the answer, but what does it matter if security clearance is denied if the person failing to get it is given access to all the secrets anyway?
How the fuck is this not being treated as a National Security breach?
#7 AoS: Little t-treason?
And of course, in that culture men like Porter are never single for a minute. The white-glove and pillbox hat crowd will always include another volunteer.
John the Drunkard,
I think that “women staying with their abuser” is a recognized phenomenon at all income levels and social classes.
As to why “men like Porter are never single for a minute,” I think it’s just selection bias. There probably are men who are — or would be — physically abusive but rarely or never get the chance because they have no appealing characteristics. But because they have so much trouble finding women who will date them, we rarely end up talking about such men being abusive.
Serial abusers, by definition, are going to be individuals who have some attractive qualities plus the ability to conceal or control their abusiveness at times. (And, usually, the ability to appear contrite about their abuse, which they swear won’t happen again….) The attractive qualities need not have anything to do with their abusiveness — I don’t think we have to hypothesize anything about women being drawn to abusive men.
Screechy Monkey;
All of the above. People with a criminal past are assumed to not have the ability or willingness to obey the law – including the laws regarding classified information. Letting folks deal with our deepest secrets is a matter of TRUST. Would you trust someone who is willing to use violence to influence family members? Also, blackmail is an issue – what if that person has other secrets the FBI didn’t find? Again, trust is the issue.
Besides, Federal law forbids people with criminal convictions from gaining security clearances. It isn’t just a matter of FBI policy. That’s why Kushner cannot get a clearance either – he is under investigation actively now. As long as that investigation is ongoing, he won’t get one either.
Which is another bullet point on Trump’s list for why he wants that investigation to Go Away.