Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20180208

I told them all of the details my marriage, including verbal and Emotional Abuse and including the incident when he pulled me out of the shower. They were also made aware of the protective order that i signed in june of 2010. And they were also made aware of another time when i had called the police to our home after a domestic disturbance. With me now, erin gloria ryan, cnn political analyst joshua green, Bloomberg Business week and cnn political analyst gloria borger. Glora months ago, early last fall, several top brass not the president but kelly heard issues he was having trouble getting that full security clearance and his exwives had reported this abuse, the question why didnt kelly take any action, is it surprising given what we know about john kelly . Well, its surprising on a lot of levels because even if porter were misleading kelly, if kelly spoke with him about it, et cetera, you still had an fbi document which had rel red flags all over it, including a restraining order against one of his, you know, exwives. And so i think that this tells us and well have to you know, i think were awaiting a fuller explanation from the chief of staff. He certainly owes one to everyone, which is if he had this fbi report, if he knew about it and he talked to rob porter about it, why did he take his word over the fbi . Great question. I dont think we know the answer to that. And then what dana bash and i learned last night was that the president didnt know about this. Now, rob porters job is being the president s shadow, effectively. He is attached to him. And so this is a big question because somebody who is looking at classified documents, passing along classified documents to the president of the United States could be subject to blackmail. You then have to ask the National Security question about how this could happen. Another question im asking, erin, to you, is did it really take this womans black eye for people to, you know, despite what the fbi had been reporting months ago, for people finally at the white house to believe her . Well, its pretty horrifying to me in general. I think its part of the pattern that this white house had established. This white house has, for a while, sided with men who have been accused of horrible things, horrible behavior to women from Corey Lewandowski to rob moore. When did kelly know about this . If he knew about it in early fall, i recall a press conference on october 19th. I remember it was october 19th. Because it was right after the weinstein story broke where kelly, very sanctimoniously said women used to be reprieved in his day. So i dont know which one makes me angrier. This is jon tester talking to chris cuomo on cnn. He needs to be held accountable, no ifs, ands or buts about it. What would that mean, holding him accountable . He has to justify what he did, why he did it. And he better have a really good reason. Otherwise, hes gone, too. Here is someone else, josh, i want to ask you about. White House Counsel don mcgahn who was directly warned we talked about the two exwives and their allegations of abuse. Now theres this third woman, this exgirlfriend, who the exgirlfriend warned don mcgahn about the, i guess these allegations when she found out porter was reportedly romantically involved with hope hicks. What about don mcgahn and his role . Another senior official in the white house who was, on some level, aware of the allegations of wife beating and obviously didnt sound the alarm, didnt do anything to remove porter from his white house job as quickly as possible, as i think any previous republican or Previous Administration would have done. Two sources tell cnn, you mentioned the president , the fact that he was unaware, made aware of these allegations just this week. Why and, again, we cant crawl into the minds of the top brass of the white house, why would he be kept in the dark . Right. Its kind of what the chief of staff decrees to be a need to know. If he believed rob porter and these were only pesky exwives making charges about rob which could not possibly be true, right if he believed that, then why would he say anything to the president . I think that, you know, we were told this last night, that the president did not know, that he was unhappy when he saw this. But we have to get that timeline down straight and try to figure out who knew what, when. I think there are a lot of people inside the white house who believe that this wasnt handled properly, who believe that porter may have been misleading people and one of those people could have been the president , for all we know, or the president never asked about it. And, you know, not everything gets to the president s desk. Yeah. If its considered a settled issue, then it doesnt go to the president s desk. Did you want to jump in . Yeah, i do. The fact that there was a restraining order, the fact that he failed the background check and the white house knew about it is not something we can rush past here. I know for a Fact Administration officials and employees who lost their jobs early on in the administration because they failed a background check. So, somebody had to have known that rob porter failed a background check and made the proactive decision to keep him in that white house job anyway. Like fluogloria said they ded to believe rob porter saying not true over what the fbi was telling them. Or just to ignore the fact that he might have had this problem in his background. They didnt care. If you look at john kellys first statement yesterday he essentially shrugs, this say find young man. That he was shocked. That was the second statement. Nice young man. Ill vouch for his character and encouraging him to hang on. How could he be shocked if he knew about these allegations back in the fall . He cant be. Thats what im saying. And there is the Trump White Houses problem. What they need to answer for may be in the briefing today. Or even better, john kelly himself ought to march out and say what he did and didnt know. There are other people in the white house who might have read the fbi report, who work for john kelly, who might have told him generally what was in it and then kelly made the decision, either not to look at it directly im not im just saying this is also a possibility. Sure. That someone ran by me. That maybe kelly decided not to look at it directly, believed rob porter. But this person i was talking to also made the point, as josh was talking about earlier, then that means there are different standards for people who are needed and higher up than there are for people who are lower down the food chain, which doesnt make any sense because, honestly, rob porter was closer to classified information than any of those other people are going to get. What about hope hicks . Again we hear shes reportedly romantically linked to these guy. You have these overthetop statements coming out of the white house. She is the white house director of communications. Obviously, she was integral in crafting those statements. Blurred lines . Yeah. I actually this whole thing serves as a microcosm that helped me understand why so many trump businesses declared bankruptcy. If theyre allowing people who are romantically involved to draft statements, thats toxic, especially for hope hicks and the people who have to work with her and below her on this. The president apparently just finding out, upset. Ivanka trump, finding out. Upset as well. Thank you very much. Just a heads up, one of porters exwives joins anderson cooper, 8 00 p. M. Eastern time here on cnn. We are moments away from that White House Briefing, initially scheduled for 1 00, moved to 2 30. Now were looking at 3 15. Sarah sanders number two, raj shah, will be at the podium to brief. Well take you live. And omarosa making comments about her time at the white house on, of all places, big brother. Well play the clip next. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Ends soon. Visit sleepnumber. Com fora store near you. At holiday inn express, we cant guarantee that youll be able to contain yourself at our breakfast bar. Morning, egg white omelet. Sup lady bacon fruit, there it is but we can guarantee that youll get the best price when you book with us. Holiday inn express. Be the readiest. You or joints. Something for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainHealth Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Well take that briefing in a second here. Let me show you a clip. Former star turned white house aide omarosa is now opening up about her time working at the white house. Now appearing on celebrity big brother, she is not holding back about her infamous exit from the white house and talking openly about her stint at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. I was haunted by tweets every single day. Like what is he going to tweet next . Does anybody say to him, what are you doing . I tried to be that person and then all the people around him attacked me. Should we be worried . Uh. Dont say that. Cause we are worried but i need you to say no, its going to be okay. No, its gonna not be okay. Its not. Van jones, host of the allnew van jones show here on cnn. Here she is, back in reality tv. Yeah. Hushed tones. Its not going to be okay. Back in reality tv would be to say that the Trump White House is not reality television. The Trump White House really it runs on reality tv principles of everyday you want to have a conflict, every day you want to do something outrageous, keep the ratings, keep the attention. Part of whats going on is that, you know, this is sort of like a spinoff, right . Omarosa now has a spinoff from the trump show. Thats the funny part of it. The scary part of it is i dont think shes acting when she says that. I dont think shes just saying that for the ratings. I knew her before. I know her now. She took big risk as a person to try to go and do something good. I dont think she feels she was as successful as she maybe would have liked to be. Do you feel for her . I do feel for her. I think she now, for a while will, get it from both sides. Shes going to have republicans that see her as a traitor, and black people see her as a sellout. Same time she has one thing thats impossible to get, which is the attention of the american public. Shes got it. It it will be very interesting to see what she does with it as she goes forward. Rob porter, interesting to see what happens. Some explaining for the white house. You worked at the white house. Yes. You know about security clearances. A lot. Vetting. Here is the deal. I want to be very balanced here. It is, in fact, the case that you can work in the white house for a little while, while the vetting process goes on. When the white house first gets there, that first team, you have so much to do. Some people, it takes a month. It might take two months to get somebody vetted. A year . I dont care what the underlying charges are. If youve got somebody in your white house that still does not have the credential, still, and youre there a year and the credential is visible and youve been there for a year . Thats not a red flag. That is a fouralarm fire. That should never happen. So, the idea that you have a white house thats being run like such a circus, that you can literally have somebody i dont care who they are after three months, four months, somebody should say, look, i dont know whats going on but until the fbi tells me you can be in here, sir, that is the exit. You will not come in here as a visitor. You wont come in here with your kids until the fbi tells me its okay. Because something is desperately wrong here. Do you think john kellys head should roll over this . Listen, i dont know who is going to replace him. Thats part of the problem. We dont know who is willing to go into that white house and do anything. Im going to tell you, peoples hearts are breaking about john kelly. When he went in there i heard republicans and democrats, huge sigh of relief saying weve got an adult in the room. Something good is going to happen. Hes out here saying dreamers are too lazy to get off their asses, dreamers were too afraid to sign up for daca because it maybe would turn out badly. Too lazy to get off their asses. You dont talk that way. Linking dreamers to a street gang, totally nuts and then going to be defending somebody. I dont know about these underlying charges and you dont either. No chief of staff in this country would have somebody that close to the president who the fbi cant vouch for for a year. I dont get that. Thats nuts and the fact that he was that close to the president. For a year. Reporting is that the president didnt know, was kept in the dark until this week and is upset about it. Do you is that believable, that the president would be shielded from that . It is conceivable. I think sometimes we jump to a lot of conclusions. I remember when i worked in the white house, six months i was there, there would be stuff that happened, people would jump out in the newspaper, this means that, that means that and therefore this. They didnt know what they were talking about. I dont want to be in that category. It is dangerous. John kelly, you think adult in the room, patriot. General. Reporter general. Rule follower. No, youre a rule breaker if you let somebody stay in there that the fbi wont vouch for. If somebody has been there three months, you know what . Im not going to jump up and down about that. A year . A year . The fbi cannot come and tell you this person is okay and he has been there a year and hes two inches from the president every day . Come on now. Something is desperately wrong in that building. Lets talk about your show. Yes. The van jones show. You do a segment where you put opposing viewpoints in a van, youre driving along. Yes. Speaking of dreamers, this is a dreamer talking to someone with legal status. Watch. Yes. Im a christian, i can say that no human is perfect. Right . I can understand why somebody like donald trump is as ignorant as he is, because he has never had to live that struggle. He has never been an immigrant. I just dont understand how you can go to a country and call their president ignorant and then tell him to give you legal status. I just dont understand that. Im going to call ignorance ignorance when i see it. Why would somebody want to help you if youre treating them like that . I would be grateful for being a chance. Thats a dictatorship. Im not going to pretend that im going to suck up to him just so he can give me legal status. Interesting conversation. Two guys that both came here at 5 years old. One with papers, one without. The one with papers is a rabid trump supporter and the one without is a trump critic. They go back and forth. Its fascinating to hear two guys they could literally be the same guy but wound up with different points of view. When can people watch your show . Saturday, 7 00 p. M. Set your dvr. Saturday night you might be out partying. You want to set your dvr. Van, thank you so much. Thank you. And special guest megan mccain and super bowl champion malcolm jenkins. Hes going to be there. Hello. He said im not going to go to the Trump White House. Youll hear exactly why hes not going. Van, thank you so much. Well be watching and waiting for that White House Briefing to begin. Well take it live when we saw raj shah behind that podium. Vice president mike pence has arrived in south korea for the start of the winter olympics. He is talking tough on north korea but there are no questions of whether he may meet with the sister of kim jng un, member of the kim dynasty there on south korean soil for the first time ever. Might they meet . More on that, coming up. Bibs on people lobsterfest is back at red lobster. With the most lobster dishes of the year. New dueling lobster tails has two tails thatll fight to be your favorite. One topped with creamy shrimp and scallops, the other. Steamed with lemon and herbs. And no, youre not dreaming, classics like lobster lovers dream are back too, along with decadent new lobster truffle mac cheese. But enough talking about lobster lets get to eating because lobsterfest wont last. So dive in today at red lobster i knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast what can a president [ do in thirty seconds . He can fire an fbi director who wont pledge his loyalty. He can order the deportation of a million immigrant children. He can threaten an unstable dictator armed with nuclear weapons. He can go into a rage and enter the Nuclear Launch codes. How bad does it have to get before congress does something . So we know how to cover almost weve anything. St everything even a redhot mascot. [mascot] heyoooo whoop, whoop [crowd 1] hey, youre on fire [mascot] you bet i am [crowd 2] dude, youre on fire [mascot] oh, yeah [crowd 3] no, youre on fire look behind you. [mascot] im cool. Im cool. [burke] thats one way to fire up the crowd. But we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum one, two, here we go im alive, im alive im alive, im alive im alive, im alive this is what it sounds like whoaohoh, im alive alive gives you more vitamins and minerals than leading brands. Im alive, im alive because when you start with more, you own the morning. Alive Vice President mike pence arriving in south korea for the olympics, sending a tough menl to the host, south korea, to the neighboring north korea. Warning they want a peaceful dismantling of Nuclear Programs but that all options are on the table. Were hearing that the president of south korea will meet with the sister of the north korean dictator, kim jong un, the two planning to sit down saturday and have lunch. Will president moon of south korea try to broker a meeting between the u. S. Vice president and this kim jong uns sister . Lets talk it all over with matthew rosenberg, National Security correspondent for the new york times. Good to see you, sir. The notion that this president moon may push for pence north korea meeting, what would that look like . Who would talk . What would be the demands for both sides . I mean, i think theres a lot of questions there. First of all, it would be pence meeting with the sister of north koreas leader. Right. Which is unusual, to say the least. And exactly, you know, what parameters theyre going to talk about there. You know, the u. S. And north korea, as much as they both say are looking for Diplomatic Solutions here, the u. S. Demand is there will be no talks until you agree to get rid of your nuclear weapons. And north koreas response is, were not getting rid of that program until we thats the end of talks. Parameters are all very fluid. North korea putting out a terse statement, quote we have no intention to meet with the u. S. Side during our visit to south korea. So theres that. What about looking ahead to saturday, matthew, and this lunch between the sister of kim jong un by the way, the first member of the kim dynasty ever setting foot in south korea, the fact that shes lunching with the president of south korea. What does that look like . I think youre looking at a bunch of factors here where north korea wants to save face to look like that alliance is not as rock solid as the u. S. Would want to present and that meeting, at least at home, would play very well and might to south koreans say, look, were reasonable. Maybe your u. S. Partners arent. For south korea, theyre trying to find ways to moderate an incredibly dangerous threat on their immediate border. The u. S. Tried to, separately from north korea, they tried to restart dialogue with iran on u. S. Prisoners held there. State Department Officials telling cnn under secretary tom shannon raised issues of the prison Prisoners Health in december. Now trying to talk to tehran about this. What do you make of that . Like every administration before it, theres a deep interest in getting prisoners anywhere in the world home. With iran, its obviously a special case. The Trump Administration has made it very clear that it thinks the deal we cut to limit Irans Nuclear Weapons Program was a bad deal. It wants to paint the Iranian Regime as a rogue regime. Certainly in trying to free americans it also gives it a chance on what sees as the wrongdoing of this regime and illegitimate massy. Matthew rosenberg thank you so much. The White House Briefing, again, any moment now. Reporters in their seats, waiting for raj shah. Sarah Sanders Deputy press secretary, to brief them. Well take that. Tough questions to be asked about the white house adviser. Staff secretary rob porter, abused of Domestic Abuse. And who knew what and when and why they did nothing until this week. Touch is how we communicate with those we love, but when your psoriasis is bad, does it ever get in the way . 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My heart is worth brilinta. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. The dow down 600 points. Lets get a check in why this is happening today. Claire, whats behind the drop . Critical last half hour of trading. Typically you see any volatility or moves increase in this last half hour. 60 plus percent or sometimes more of these market moves, theyre set to sell or buy ate certain level. That does exaggerate these big moves weve been seeing. Since we last spoke more shares are being sold around 700,000 at the moment. It was about 600,000 last time we spoke. Thats not as bad not as high as it was monday when we saw that biggest points drop in history. That day we reached about 1. 3 billion shares changing hands. Underneath all of this are fears about the bond market. Treasury yields have been spiking at highs, spiking fears that people will move out of stocks and into bonds and lead to inflation, meaning that the fed will raise rates faster than expected. Volatility is definitely back. I think well see it for some while yet. Clare sebastian, thank you. Lets go to the White House Briefing room. We are still waiting, jim acosta, for this briefing to start. Yes, we are. You are there and live. This has been delayed not once, not twice, but three times. Whats up . Reporter dont blame me for this, brooke. Yes, thats right. This briefing was supposed to start at 1 00 this afternoon. Then it was delayed to 2 30. Then we had an announcement saying it was at 3 15. Its around 3 30 and were still waiting. How does everybody feel in the room about this . Youre happy about this . These are not happy camp ers. I just took a poll of the room there, unscientific. Very scientific. We are waiting. And this is a very critical day for this white house. Obviously there are Big Questions that need to be answered. Theyve been going through a very, i think, big storm over here the last 24 hours, dealing with the departure of rob porter, staff secretary to the president. And i think the big question here is going to be what about john kelly, the white house chief of staff, who were told through our sources, along with other Top White House officials, knew about some of these issues and the background check for porter months ago yet this white house apparently did nothing about it. Now, were waiting for raj shah to come out here. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is off. Shes not here today. Principle Deputy Press Secretary raj shah is filling in for her. This happens to be his first day doing the briefing here in front of reporters. He has taken questions from reporters on air force one and so on. Theres the twominute warning. Brooke, not an ideal day for somebody to be filling in, in the Briefing Room on a day like this, brooke. In the two minutes we have until we see raj step behind the podium, there are so many questions, right . We were told the president was in the dark until this week, upset learning about the allegations. Weve learned that, obviously, porter wasnt able to get that full security clearance because of, you know, fbi, the investigations and the allegations from his exwife. Lets be precise. When exactly did the chief of staff know about that . Reporter we believe that happened last fall and i dont think we have a precise date as to when john kelly found out about this. We believe it happened last fall and other white house officials were aware of this as well. If you talk to folks who know a good deal about this background check, security clearance issue, when an issue is flagged of this nature, its only natural, Standard Operating Procedure in the administration for top staffers in the administration to be made aware of that. And so it would either be gross negligence on the part of the chief of staff to not be told about this, not hear about this among his top staffers or he knew about it and theyre just going to have to have some explaining to do when and if we finally hear from the chief of staff about all of this. Brooke, i think the other question, obviously, is for the president. Weve not heard what the president thinks about all of this. Yesterday Sarah Sanders was pressed on this. She did not give a response to that as well. So, obviously, were waiting to hear for an answer on that as well. But, obviously, this is a very big day for this white house, a lot of critical questions. I was talking to retired general last night about chief of staff john kelly and this person who wanted to remain anonymous was saying, listen, i dont recognize this john kelly anymore. This is somebody who was highly decorated, very respected in places like iraq and around the world. Somebody who understood, you know, we get down in the weeds of the personnel of people serving under him and handled those duties effectively. That really stands in stark contrast with the stories that were hearing behind the scenes here at the white house that, well, if kelly did know about it, maybe he didnt know about everything. Perhaps porter was giving them false stories, keeping them in the dark in terms of the full picture. But the thing that is very mysterious to a lot of us, brooke is how they could be putting out statements yesterday just before the briefing from the chief of staff praising rob porter as a man of integrity, so on. At the same time, rob porter saying i took these pictures many years ago, and so on. It smacks of political malpractice and perhaps some inexperience on the part of people in the white house here. First among them, john kelly, in allowing statements like that to go out to the press, giving the impression they were standing behind rob porter when something truly awful was being alleged about him. Im going to hold you there, jim, until we see raj walk in the room. What about the role of white House Counsel don mcgahn . Didnt he know something based upon an exgirlfriend of rob porter . How much was he aware of . I think thats also a key question. Don mcgahn is somebody whose name pops up time and again in these melodramas that take place here at the white house. What did the white House Counsel know in terms of his handling of all of this . I think thats going to be a question here also. Keep in mind, the buck stops with the president obviously but before the president , when it comes to these staffing issues, it really stops with the chief of staff. Thats why its such a critical question for john kelly. He was brought in to be the, quote, unquote, adult in the room, to disindependence of people coming in. Speaking of people getting battered, he was to deal with the underbrush. And for the chief of staff to have fallen down on the job in the way that it appears over the last several months when it comes to rob porter, i think, raises serious questions about it. Thats why were hearing the president has not been happy about this as well. No question about it. This is a very people hear about rob porter and say i dont know about this person. Not a household name. Staff secretary. What is that job, and so on. Its really a larger issue than that. It is about the management of this white house. White house should be a shining example to the world in terms of what is expected, in terms of behavior, Staff Members and so on. It shouldnt be in the process of sort of scrambling around, fumbling around the dark in terms of trying to deal with a major staff scandal like this. Brooke . Jim, im going to go ahead and take your seat, take a breath. Well take a break. Again, this thing has been pushed three times, this White House Briefing. Listen, i get it, people run late. But this is mighty late today. Raj shah is the one briefing. Sarah sanders out. Raj shah in filling in, i should be precise on that. Quick break. We are back with a look at the dow and hopefully White House Briefing. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. And snoring . Does your bed do that . Right now during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed with adjustable comfort on both sides. Ends soon. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. You myour joints. Thing for your heart. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Every day we hear from families who partnered with a Senior Living advisor from a place for mom to help find the Perfect Place for their mom or dad our normal policy consistent with the policies of past administration administrations is to not comment on background checks. Due to the nature and reports floating around we wanted to explain as best we can through our security limitations how the background process works and talk about rob porter and how his situation fits within that process. Background investigation process is the process for evaluating allegations about a white house staffers conduct prior to joining the white house. Its run by the federal Law Enforcement and intelligence communities. Its used throughout the u. S. Government. Its thorough. Its complex. And it takes time. It takes time because we want to get it right. Its also costly, but its absolutely worth it. Over the course of any investigation, some information may arise that seems troubling or complicated and requires additional investigating. Its 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. Its not politicized or interfered with. We do not push we do push for we do push to obtain accurate, fullsome information as quickly as possible. Let me talk about rob porter. The allegations made against rob porter, as we understand them, involve incidents long before he joined the white house. Therefore, they are best evaluated through the background check process. Its important to remember that rob porter has repeatedly denied these allegations and done so publicly. That doesnt change how serious and disturbing these allegations are. They are upsetting. And the background check investigates both the allegations and the denials. The investigation does not stop when allegations come to light. It continues to determine the truth. We should not short circuit an investigation just because allegations are made unless they can compromise National Security or interfere with operations at the white house. The truth must be determined. And that was what was going on with rob porter. His Background Investigation was ongoing. He was operating on an interim security clearance. His clearance was never denied, and he resigned. To summarize the allegations against rob 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 will help explain how seriously these matters are taken and how the process works to investigate such allegations. With that ill take question. Can you tell us, raj, when the white house first became aware of these allegations . Theres been some reports about the chief of staff. He became fully aware about these allegations yesterday. Im not going to get into the specifics regarding who may have known what pieces of information, because they 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 some of the graphic images. But did he know any of this back in november . Again, im not going to get into specifics. Peter . The statement changed from john kelly yesterday morning to the statement yesterday evening. He said based on new allegations. But what changed yesterday absent a photograph in terms of new allegations . Well, i think what i just referenced, the reports had additional allegations. They had more information. So, youre saying the initial reports were two former wives accused him of violence, both physical and verbal abuse, was not sufficient for him to say he was not a man of honor . There were a number of statements from the press secretary, from the chief of staff and others that reflected the rob porter that weve come to know working here for over a year. And the chief of staff for about the last six months. But the reports are troubling. And i think the statement from wednesday night reflects the rob porter that we had seen in these news reports and some of these credible allegations. To be clear, what was so shocking that had changed . He said it was shocking. Its the full nature of the allegations, particularly the images. Just answer one more thing. You talked about the fact that there werent any concerns, you said, that could compromise National Security or interfere with operations here at the white house. But weve spoken to one of porters exwives who told us she warned the fbi that he could be susceptible to blackmail because of the allegations against him. Im not going to get into the specifics of the investigation itself. I think thats a question for the fbi and others. This is not our process. This is the process the u. S. Government uses across agencies and has existed over numerous administrations. Hang on a second. Say that again. I want to clarify what youre saying. Sure. Are you saying the chief of staff of this white house had no idea rob porters two exwives had domestic violation allegations against him when they made those claims to the fbi, that john kelly did not know that . How is that possible that the chief of staff did not know that . Again, this is part of an ongoing investigation. We trust of the background process and the chief of staff does not get detailed updates about what may or may not have been alleged. This is a process that involves thorough investigation. As i went through the process it involves looking at not just accusations but denials. The white house had said yesterday that porters decision to leave was a personal one, that he wasnt pressured to do so. So, would rob porter still be on the job today, had he not decided to resign . Rob porter was terminated yesterday and his did he resign or was he terminated . His last day was yesterday and he cleared out his stuff. Sary sanders made it he offered his resignation and it was accepted. Jim . Yes. So, in terms of the chief of staffs handling of all this, no regrets . I think the second statement that he sent out reflected his thoughts, which is that these allegations are deeply troubling. They are shocking and i think the first statement reflected, you know, the rob porter that we have known. Let me ask you to follow up on that. As you were coming 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 this abuse took place, that he helped document it. How can the white house chief of staff how can the press secretary, how can this white house still be standing behind him when mr. Porter appeared to be acknowledging that he had i think its fair to say that we all could have done better over the last few hours or last few days in dealing with this situation. But, you know, this is a rob porter that i and many others have dealt with. Sarah have dealt with, other officials including the chief of staff have dealt with. Emerging reports were not reflective of the individual we had come to know. One other question. Jeff . Did the president know rob was using working on a temporary clearance . No. The president saw the news report tuesday night and was informed of the resignation on wednesday. He was saddened by it. Saddened for all the individuals involved. Over the last year, is that ever something he was concerned about . He was not informed about the specifics regarding rob porters security clearance. Okay. Do you have any information on how many senior white house staffers are currently working under an interim security clearance . I got into the security clearance process as much as im allowed to discuss it and im not going to go further. Yes . What is the white houses reaction to former white house aide omarosa on big brother when she said she was haunted by daily tweets, described the white house as bad and that thing are not going to be okay. She was fired three times on the apprentice. She had limited contact with the president while here and she has no contact here. Raj, we were initially told that rob porter was going to stay on a while and oversee a transition period. Now youre telling us he was terminated yesterday. What changed . I think that we have looked at the things that are necessary to ensure a smooth transition. There will be a new acting staff secretary that we can name later on and operations can continue smoothly. Lali . Thank you. Over the last one last one. Everyone has talked about this, and whats the position on this . Well, i think the president wants to see Legal Immigration reform, he wants to see us move from a process that currently exists in law on extended family chain migration towards merit based immigration reforms. We want to make sure people coming in the country are the best and 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 proimprove america economy. Normally, when you hire people, you wait for the investigation to come back before hiring them . Is the burden of proof not on the the people seeking the job to prove that they are qualified and dont have any skeletons in their closet, or do they just get to come aboard and you wait and see if the process the process tends to be different with the white house because of the new administration and individuals coming in have an interim clearance. What about women who dont have photographs . Do you trust their stories because a lot of times you do have quoting that allegations were not credible from other people. Do you need a photograph . How should women feel if they dont have photographs . I dont think a standard applies. We take allegations of misconduct, of domestic violence, and other issues like that very seriously, we are very concern about them. In this instance in the case of rob porter, we relied on the background check process. That process had not been completed. Relying on the information we had. Anita anita. Two questions. I want to understand, you used the term fully aware, i dont understand what that means. What does that mean . I do know, for instance, he had not seen images prior to his statement on tuesday night. With the allegations . Sorry, say that again . Did he know on some of the allegations . Again, im not getting into the specifics of what emerge in the investigation. I understand, i dont have the detail, not getting into the specifics. We relied on a process used throughout the u. S. Government, every agency for an individual seeking security clearance. Porter was never denied security clearness. He was never given special treatment. The process was ongoing. We relied upon it. I had a yeah. On capitol hill, members and their staffs are saying that the court case regarding daca means the administration is accepting daca applications again and feel theres breathing room and march 5th is no longer the deadline. What happens if they have not done anything by then . Basically, they have not done anything, what do you mean . Congress has not acted by march 5th, what happens . Well, we fully expect congress to take action on the president S Immigration reform. Frank . Two questions. You said the president takes the issue of violence against women seriously. Why did the administration close the violence against women when he took office last year and shut down the limited girls homes as well. And i have another question. I dont know specifically why those specific offices may have been closed, but, look, i did talk to the president earlier today and he said he was saddened by the reports, by the information he saw, and by the images he saw. We take violation against women and these allegations very seriously. Whats the second question . Interim security clearance, does that allow rob porter to be able to touch and see classified materials . It would, yes. Blake . Thanks. Turning attention back to spending deal going on. Republicans, for years, said there needs to be fiscal restraint, years and years and years, and now we know the deficit for this fiscal year potentially reaches a trillion dollars. You got the House Freedom caucus saying about the deal, growing the size of government by 13 adds to the swamp rather than draining it, not what the American People said to do. Essentially, some within the party are being hypocritical. Is the president concerned about this spending . What exactly is your plan to pay for it in. He is concerned about spending in washington. Hes expressed that for years. I have to say off the bat, we do support the two Year Spending bill that is being discussed and voted on in the house and senate, you know, it lifts caps on spending, which was told was needed to rebuild our military and protect our National Security. With respect to deficits, no, were going to be releasing a budget on monday. The budget does move us towards a path of restorie inine ining responsibility. Youll get more on monday, but it does incorporate budget caps and incorporates the tax bill and other priorities. We do think that that budget will outline a path to fiscal reform. Still running deficits at that point, and now youve got this 300 billion cap to raise, so is it just Economic Growth . Is that the only way . Economic growth is essential to cutting deficits and to restorying fiscal responsibility. Again, this outlines a lot more details in the budget. White House Communications director crafted a statement from your office yesterday, and among them, you have the defense issued by the chief of staff. You have the statement that sarah read from the podium in which rob porter caused allegations against him vile and outrageous. What can you tell us about the extent of which the director is involved . Im not getting into the specifics, but all the statements were crafted by a number of senior white house officials. March great . Referring to denials issued. How much weight were those denials begin in the white house . You know, i think youve got to take allegations seriously. You got to take democrnials seriously. Again, statements reflected our experience with porter and other officials experiences with rob porter, but, again, looking at more of the reporting and more facts emerging, you saw the chief of staffs statement and the white house accept resignation. Mar margar margaret . A couple more questions about the issue. You said the investigation is ongoing, is that right . Well, i dont think now that hes terminated, i dont think it continues, but i can get back to you on specifics. I was going to ask once the investigation is totally completed and satisfied and you know the answers to the questions, could you elaborate on specifics, first time this was mentioned to the president , when, you know i know that any issues regarding his security clearance were not made available to the president prior to tuesday. Sorry, hang on a second. So, i guess, does the president retain full confidence in the chief of staff yes. And white House Counsel absolutely. The communications director. Absolutely. The president has confidence in his chief of staff, counsel, and communications. One more question questiickl the stepping plan. As i understand it, whatever the bucket budgets going to say, you borrow more than a trillion dollars this year that could affect markets globely. Does the president feel confident do you dispute that, the president feels confident its the right thing to do and communicated in the budget plan . I refer you to treasury on specifics. I know some of the numbers have more to do with the Previous Administrations accounting than it has to do with this administrations policies, but we are committed to fiscal discipline and the budget next week shows that in greater detail. Anne . Back to mr. Porter. Sure. If i understand your description of the background check process correctly, the fact the two exwives had made statements to the fbi about alleged abuse during that investigation was not a disqualifying factor in his initial hiring . Does the white house regret that and Going Forward do you plan to change the way you consider allegations of Domestic Abuse . Well, again, understand that the Background Investigation was not completed. There was no determination made about rob porters security clearance. There was not a thumbs up or down or denial of clearance. Testifies operating off interim clearance, a clearance that many individuals without security clearances get when they first come to the white house. With respect to allegations made, again, every allegation has to be investigated. Any denial has to be thoroughly and fully investigated. We allow that process to play out. I wanted to clear up a few things. First, you said that the president was not aware of the po porters security clearance, but when was he made aware of the abuse . Tuesday night after a report issue. And secondly, you have said that rob porter was terminated twice in the briefing, is the white house saying he was fired . I mean the process by which your Employment Status ends is termination. Lastly on that, you said there are things the white house could have done better with respect to this, can you please detail them . What could the white house have done better . Again, im not getting into ticktock detailed specifics. I think a lot of individuals were involved with the white house response to this, and a lot of us could have done better. Thanks, clarifying about the two questions for you, so rob porter was not fired by the