just because you like somebody doesn't mean that they didn't do this. >> that's the information that you and gloria borger -- that he had heard of this in the fall? >> that he had heard about it in the fall and that the president didn't know about it until now, which is what was so sort of striking and puzzling about the statement you just read, which is it's so carefully crafted saying that he was surprised to learn about the new allegations. >> mm-hmm. >> what are the new allegations? what did he know beforehand? >> right. >> we don't know the answer. >> we don't know if the new allegations is the photo, which the white house to jim acosta's point, someone from the white house was saying we hadn't seen the photos until after we put out these statements. i want to play that to give you context because we do like to give you context about who rob porter is and the allegations against him. >> reporter: few people stood closer to president trump. from the white house colonnade made to the oval office. even a handshake with chinese