White House chief of staff John Kelly said Friday that his former assistant Rob Porter resigned twice on the day two ex-wives publicly accused him of abuse, before a “mix-up” the next day about the timing of his departure.
“The mix-up came the next day,” Kelly told a group of reporters in his office, referring to a lack of clarity on when Porter would be departing the White House.
Kelly denied reports that he personally offered his resignation to President Trump last month over his handling of the Porter scandal. “I did absolutely nothing to even consider resigning over,” he said.
Kelly said Porter offered to resign on the afternoon of Feb. 6 after the Daily Mail published allegations of abuse from one of his ex-wives. Kelly indicated he relayed the message about Porter’s resignation to Trump as he traveled to Capitol Hill for a meeting on immigration.
Kelly said Porter’s second ex-wife made explicit allegations of physical abuse by the time he returned to the White House that evening. “It wasn’t until I got back that we had the second one,” Kelly said. “He had already resigned, at that point I clarified that he was resigning.”
The next day, Feb. 7, someone called Kelly, he said, “at probably 10 or 11 o’clock and said, ‘Hey, Rob’s still in the building,'” which Kelly indicated was confusing to him, as Porter was supposed to be “read out” that morning.
At a press conference Feb. 7, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that Porter “will be leaving the White House, it won’t be immediate.” Kelly described a lack of clarity with the public as a “mix-up.”
Kelly also defended a glowing statement about Porter that was shared by the White House press office on his behalf.
“Those of us who knew Rob were frankly surprised he had ever been married,” Kelly said. “He conducted himself as the ultimate gentleman, I had never saw him mad or abusive in any way.”
