The shifting White House story about how quickly aides took action to remove Rob Porter from his post following revelations about his history of domestic violence have now turned into a "Kelly coverup," per a source inside the White House. Axios writes:
Chief of Staff John Kelly's White House enemies are ready to use FBI Director Chris Wray's testimony as a weapon: "Wray’s FBI timeline makes one thing clear: the Kelly coverup is unraveling right before our eyes," a White House official says.
Wherever the truth lies, John Kelly is now getting a very political lesson in leading a "team" where factionalism rules the day—if your sh*t stinks, it's gonna come straight back at you.
Here's what we know: Kelly knew for months about Porter's history and everyone knew he knew and yet he kept advocating for Porter's promotion inside the White House. And while we can’t say for certain exactly who has decided that Kelly should be on the hook for the present debacle enveloping the White House, there's strong indications that it's Trump himself.
A Politico article this morning revealed a previously unreported off-the-record briefing hastily convened last Wednesday for four reporters by Sarah Sanders in the immediate aftermath of photographs documenting the abuse being published in the DailyMail.com. It was reportedly a chance for Porter to tell his side of the story but at least two of the stories produced following that briefing focused on Trump's ire at Kelly.
Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times' Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, who was one of the reporters included in the OTR briefing:
Among the many people agitated this week over John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, was President Trump. [...]
For now, it is Mr. Kelly who is in trouble. The president has little tolerance for aides who attract negative media attention that spills onto him, and in recent days Mr. Kelly has drawn a string of unwelcome headlines. He roiled negotiations over immigration legislation by declaring that some immigrants were “too lazy” to apply for legal status. And he initially defended a deputy accused by two ex-wives of physically abusing them.
What that version of events fails to mention is how livid Trump was after Kelly went over to the Hill during the Dreamer debate and called Trump's immigration policy "uninformed."
Another reporter included in the OTR briefing was a part of a Washington Post trio that reported Porter had offered to resign but was "talked out of it by Kelly and others."
Kelly continued to press him to stay in his job Wednesday, saying he could weather the storm, but Porter decided the controversy had become too much after the photos of his ex-wife’s blackened eye appeared Wednesday morning.
By Thursday, the Times's Haberman and Baker coauthored another piece painting a picture of a White House riven with finger pointing. But while some blamed White House counsel Don McGahn and others were focused on Hope Hicks' contribution to the imbroglio, Trump specifically wanted to see Kelly dangle in the wind for the bad press his White House was now getting.
And many, including the president himself, have turned their ire on Mr. Kelly for vouching for Mr. Porter’s character and falsely asserting that he had moved aggressively to oust him once his misdeeds were discovered. [...]
The president has now sounded out several people as possible replacements for Mr. Kelly. [...]
Mr. Kelly is not ready to explicitly offer a resignation, according to a person familiar with his thinking. But people close to Mr. Trump said the president had begun the process of making the job so unpleasant for Mr. Kelly that it might hasten his departure, the same sort of ritual humiliation to which he subjected Reince Priebus, his first chief of staff, before his departure in July.
The FBI director’s testimony Tuesday that Porter had been allowed to stay even after the FBI “gave a partial report, a completed investigation, and a follow-up, all by November,” has only added fuel to the fire of a potential ouster.
The question is whether Kelly will meet a humiliating fired-by-tweet fate like Priebus or end up being Trump’s faithful punching bag in same the vein as Jeff Sessions—always at the ready for Trump to blow off a little steam.