John Kelly gets White House support for handling Rob Porter abuse allegations

White House officials rallied to the defense of Chief of Staff John Kelly on Sunday after questions about his handling of an aide’s domestic abuse accusations led to speculation that he was on thin ice.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said President Trump has full confidence in the retired four-star Marine general.

“I spoke to the president last night, I told him I’d be with you today,” Ms. Conway told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “He said, ’Please tell Jake that I have full faith in Chief of Staff John Kelly and that I’m not actively searching for replacements.’ He said, ’I saw that all over the news today. I have faith in him.’”

Rob Porter, 40, resigned as White House staff secretary on Wednesday after allegations of domestic abuse made by both of his ex-wives surfaced.

A picture of Colbie Holderness, 37, to whom Mr. Porter was married from 2003 to 2008, with a black eye was published by the Daily Mail on Thursday. She said her husband punched her in the face on a vacation to Florence, Italy, a couple of years after they married.

“We were arguing and he punched me in the face,” Ms. Holderness told the Daily Mail. “He left visible marks when he punched me and I have pictures of that. I didn’t go to the police because I was scared, I was in Italy alone and I didn’t know what to do.”

Jennifer Willoughby, 39, was married to Mr. Porter from 2009 to 2013. She said she was physically assaulted in 2010 when, after an argument, he “dragged me by my shoulders out of the shower to yell.”

Ms. Willoughby filed a protective order against Mr. Porter in 2010, after he allegedly refused to leave their apartment in violation of a separation agreement and cut his hand punching the glass on a door.

Mr. Porter has denied the accusations.

On Friday, speechwriter David Sorensen, who worked at the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House, left abruptly after his ex-wife came forward with tales of violent and emotional abuse during their 2 -year marriage.

He also said the accusations are false, but left his post anyway. He said in a statement that “in fact, I was the victim of repeated physical violence during our marriage, not her.”

Mr. Trump himself seemed to defend the two aides Saturday, saying their lives were being destroyed by “mere allegations.”

“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation,” he tweeted. “Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused — life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”

Questions have emerged as to when and how much Mr. Kelly knew about the domestic abuse allegations before they were reported. Mr. Kelly reportedly told West Wing officials that he was willing to resign over his handling of the incidents.

“It’s a fair question,” Marc Short, White House legislative director, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know who knew what when at this point. I do know what Gen. Kelly has told me, which is he learned the full information Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning Rob Porter was out.”

Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, said it’s an “understatement” that the White House handled the situation poorly.

“Well, I think the way the White House said that they could have handled the situation better, that’s a bit of an understatement,” Mr. Flake said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Yes, they could have done a lot better, particularly with the Rob Porter situation.”

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, whose name was floated as a potential replacement chief of staff, said reports of Mr. Kelly falling out of favor with the president are probably being fueled by people with an ax to grind.

“I think all those stories about replacing Gen. Kelly are mostly being fed by people who are unhappy that they’ve lost access to the president under Gen. Kelly’s leadership as chief of staff,” Mr. Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”