Shaub: White House using ‘weasel words’ to explain response to Porter allegations

Former government ethics chief Walter Shaub on Tuesday blasted the White House’s response to domestic abuse allegations that led to the resignations of an aide last week, accusing press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders of using “weasel words” to tiptoe around specifics of the case.

“Those weasel words she was using were sure getting a workout in both her presentation and [deputy press secretary] Raj Shah’s,” Shaub said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“They’re entitled to zero benefit of the doubt when they won’t share details, because … it’s not that they can’t, it’s that they won’t,” he added.

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Porter resigned last week after accusations that he had physically and emotionally abused his two ex-wives came to light. Photos also began circulating showing one of his accusers with a black eye that she said was a result of Porter’s abuse.

Shaub’s comments came following a press briefing Monday in which Sanders refused to discuss what exactly White House officials knew about the allegations against staff secretary Rob Porter before he resigned last week. 

The White House has scrambled to contain the fallout from Porter’s resignation, especially after media reports indicated that senior officials, including chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn, knew about the allegations months before the resignation.

Questions have also been raised about how Porter was able to serve for more than a year in a position that required him to handle classified material despite not obtaining a full security clearance.

Shaub, a frequent critic of President Trump, resigned from his post as director of the Office of Government Ethics in July. During his tenure in that post, he repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over alleged conflicts of interest.