Priebus: Porter abuse allegations ‘surprising’

Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus says he was taken aback this week by allegations of domestic abuse that forced the resignation of staff secretary Rob Porter.

“It was very surprising,” Priebus told Hugh Hewitt in an interview aired Saturday on MSNBC.

Priebus, who said he didn’t know about the allegations during his time in the West Wing, said Porter seemed to be an upstanding member of the Trump White House.

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“It was one of those sort of moments where people just said that ‘you’re kidding me,’ ” Priebus continued. ” ‘It can’t, it can’t, we’re not talking about Rob Porter, are we? The Eagles scout, Rhodes scholar, Harvard undergrad?’ “

President Trump’s current chief of staff John Kelly is now facing scrutiny over his handling of the allegations of domestic abuse and violence against Porter raised by his two ex-wives. The allegations forced Porter to resign from his post on Wednesday.

Kelly reportedly knew for months that the allegations had prevented Porter from obtaining a full security clearance. Kelly initially defended the aide this week amid the allegations before saying he was “shocked” by the detailed allegations coming out. 

Priebus, who was replaced as chief of staff by Kelly last summer, said that by the time he left the White House after six months, the allegations were not widely known. 

“Now we had other clearance issues where people hit a brick wall and they weren’t going to go in to get clearance,” he told Hewitt when asked about the number of officials who did not have their clearances by then. 

“But as far as this particular issue, I was as surprised as anyone when that Daily Mail article came out. I didn’t know Rob that way. He was always what everyone described,” Priebus said, referring to the first reports this week. 

The former chief of staff also denied reports that Trump had called Priebus to vent about Kelly’s handling of the situation, during a time when officials have said Trump was musing about replacements for Kelly.

“The president has never complained to me about Gen. Kelly,” he said. “And on top of it, I would never, number one, he didn’t do that. But number two, I would never bring up such a subject. I’m not going to sit around and talk about the management of the West Wing. I don’t, that just didn’t happen.”

Kelly has made clear to Trump he is willing to resign over the controversy, according to multiple reports, but he has reportedly not made a formal offer of resignation.