Nine months away. There is a lot to talk about. Lets begin at the white house. Kelly odonnell, we are learning that rob porter, the Staff Secretary, accused of Domestic Violence by his exwives that he could be out as early as today, is that correct . Reporter thats our reporting and the issue is that rob porter offered his resignation and Sarah Huckabee sanders said there would be an extended time of transition, where he would be able to help facilitate a successor. That has changed in the sense that there has been a lot of controversy around this, a lot of attention drawn to the two former wives of rob porter. The statements they have made publicly alleging verbal abuse, physical abuse and Emotional Abuse and porter has said that these are smears. He has said that these are baseless allegations and a coordinated campaign against him. We saw a shift, in fact, that at first, members of the white house senior Team Including chiefofstaff john kelly were very supportive of porter and he
was described as a man of true integrity and character. That has changed with john kelly coming forward to say, that he was concerned about the issue of the photos that have been raised and the reports. There is an issue changing the statements of john kelly who is worked very closely with rob porter over the many months of this administration. Why is this so critical . The Porter Situation is that he does not have a full clearance based on all of the reporting that our team has done. He has daily access to the president. That of course has put him right into the inner circle and these allegations are of a serious nature, especially culturally at this point with the me too campaign and all of the concerns that have been raised. Porter says hes not responsible for domestic abuse. His former wives have detailed to first the daily mail. Com and confirming their accounts to nbc news. They have said that these
abusive situations did occur and that they reported them to the fbi, which is a standard part of a Background Check where members of the fbi interview those in the life and family of anyone who is up for clearance especially for a high level job at the white house. So porter denies this. He may be out as early as today based on the changing nature of how this story has been received, how its been perceived and even changes among those that had been initially supportive of him. Thats the other question. Is i dont kn if there was an issue with his Security Clearance and if this at least by the fbi some of the accusations here were known, i see youre doesnt look like kellys hearing me. Well ask somebody else the question. We got other folks joining us who are very knowledge being. Joined now by beth reiner. She conducted the interviews
with the exwives, and im joined by peter baker and our panel, matt welsh, along with Catherine Ram pel. Thanks for all of you for being with us, peter, let me start with you. The big question is politically in the fallout from this, is the question about the chiefofstaff, john kelly, who was initially supportive now you see porter headed for the kpits, the question of what did john kelly know about this and how far back did he know it . Thats exactly right. Our reporting shows that he was told as recently as last fall. In a statement he put out last night, he said he was shocked to learn about the details of this. Its possible he knew the general gist of it without knowing the level detail that came out particularly, that photograph of rob porters exwife. Its been a really interesting and tough week for john kelly,
this on top of the comments he made earlier in the week criticizing at least some immigrants of being too lazy to go about applying for status, the obama era daca program and raising a lot of questions both inside the white house and outside about john kelly as the chiefofstaff. If he didnt know about one of his top people being compromised in the way that rob porter seems to have been, if hes willing to make the kind of comments he made on capitol hill in the midst of sensitive negotiations, what does that tell us about the way hes leading this white house for President Trump . Lets bring beth reiner in. You talked to rob porters exwives, the genesis of this story, let me play a clip here from your interview then ask you a question about it. Take a listen. During one of these fights we were both yelling at each other. I disengaged and removed myself from the fight to go take a shower. And rob wasnt finished fighting, i suppose, at that point. He was still angry. So he came and grabbed me by the shoulders here and pulled me out of the shower in a rage. So beth, let me ask you about the time line from their standpoint. Theyre going public now but theres the question here of why these fbi checks are playing out for porter to get him those Security Clearances for the white house, were his exwives contacted, what were they saying then . Did they talk to anybody in the white house, were they talking to him before they went public . Whats the timeline . So rob porters exwives were both contacted by the fbi over a year ago january 2017 as you would expect for a Background Check of a high level white house aide and they both provided the fbi with a lot of information about his verbal and
physical abuse, colby provided the fbi with the pictures youve seen of her with the black eye, jennie provided the fbi with the protective order she had filed in 2010 and then they they did not hear anything until several months later. Jennie got a call from rob in september asking about, you know, what had you told the fbi . Theyre holding up my Security Clearance. So rob porter knew, you know, as of september and we presume other folks in the white house knew as well that there was a problem with these allegations were causing him a problem in terms of getting a Security Clearance. Peter, let me ask you, the position that rob porter occupied, Staff Secretary, one of those people here theyre not exactly sure what the
in this white house, rob porters probably even more important than the typical Staff Secretary because john kelly did rely on him so much. Porter was seen as one of the few genuinely professional and talented and seasoned people in that white house. I would say if you had to come up with a list of the most important staffers in that west wing he would certainly be on any list like that. For this to happen is a big blow to this white house and youre right. He had been very close to john kelly as an ally and a right arm of his, so you can see that the chiefofstaff clearly, you know, took this in a personal way. You mentioned some of those names from past administrations, people harriet myers, george w. Bush tried to put her on the Supreme Court but there was a pushback to that. Beth you were going to say. Sorry. I was adding to answer your question about the time line. Both of these exwives did not
come forward, so to speak. They were contacted by reporters and i think somewhat reluctantly shared their stories after they knew that this was all coming out. So i just wanted to make that clear as far as the time line. Let me bring the panel in here. This is i think one of the questions here we find ourselves asking a lot with this administration is would this event have happened in a past administration and i think this is one of those where, you know, look you can have an unfortunate circumstance where you find out somebodys been accused of something. That can happen in any administration. This does seem to speak to a level of some dysfunction behind the scenes there. One of the appalling details is that this week john kelly and also orrin hatch basically came out and accused the women, the exwives of conducting a vial Smear Campaign. Thats the first instinct that this is a Smear Campaign even though they werent making this a campaign at all. They only came out with this now. Theyve been interviewed with the fbi last year including the question of do you think that is vulnerable potentially to blackmail. That was a question they said yes, he is because of this path that hasnt been disclosed. So to accuse them just a reflexively of conducting a Smear Campaign is what we had seen similarly with judge roy moore, with donald trump himself. Its as if this is what well do. We can weather the storm by doing this. Lets step back and call that for what it is. These are two women, exwives, and theres a third girlfriend too, an exgirlfriend who contacted the white house afterwards and say, i think theres a problem with this guy. You should check it out. There was plenty of knowledge there and to go back and try to smear those women of conducting a Smear Campaign that says something really bad about the cultural of the white house. Its an interesting point. You think back to the access Hollywood Tape in the 2016 campaign. I think politically i wonder if the president himself and the
folks around him took a political lesson from that, hey, look, if two, three weeks before the election you can endure that kind of scandal and still win, maybe we dont have to worry about anything were hit with. Even if there is evidence, even if there are photos, if there is a video with audio in which donald trump himself is acknowledging that he likes to or is able to grab women by the genitals, they think they can get away with it. This is an administration that has defended neonazi, an accused Child Molester and now multiple wife beaters. One of the nominees last year for the cabinet for the Labor Secretary was also accused of abusing a spouse. So this is not some anomaly. This is a pattern for them. All they care about is just circling the wagons and saying were going to charge forward and were going to just deny and gas light the American Public even when there is photographic evidence or Video Evidence proving otherwise. Okay. Peter baker, beth reiner, thanks
to both of you. Matt and katherine are saying with minimum throughout the hour. All eyes are turning to the u. S. Senate first today. Theres where lawmakers are getting ready to vote on a budget deal that would fund the government for the next two years. Not so fast. The fate of that bill is very much up in the air when it comes to the house where its also going to have to pass. The sticking points for both parties as that Shutdown Clock keeps ticking. One is the only number that youll ever need staying ahead isnt about waiting for a chance. Its about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. The One And OnlyCadillac Escalade. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the Cadillac Escalade. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 Cadillac Escalade from around 879 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. On the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Ends soon. Visit sleepnumber. Com fora store near you. Can start in the Colon Constiand may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. Only Phillips Colon Health has this unique combination of probiotics. It provides fourinone symptom defense. Its your daily probiotic. Back now with a live look the house floor. Thats the outside of the capitol hill right now but on the house floor inside that building there is going to be lots of drama today before that, though, on the senate side, the senate expected to prove that two year budget at some point today. That will then kick off the drama on the house side. Leadership trying to make that senate vote happen as soon as possible. What happens in the house, this is an uncertain question right now. Democrats are upset that this agreement does not address the issue of immigration and the status of the dreamers. Conservatives say all the new spending would blow a big hole in the deficit. The vote will be narrow at best. Also lawmakers have about 14 hours to get all of this done or the government shuts down again. Casey hunt is on capitol hill thats where the drama is. The house side here. Youve got objections you can look at from both sides. Democrats saying what about the dreamers. Republicans saying what about all this spending. The bottom line, 218 votes,
whats the status right now . Can they deliver that . Reporter steve, at this particular point in time it does look like the moderate middle is going to win the day over the objections of both the left and the right. Of course nancy pelosi taking to the house floor yesterday, a historic eight plus hour speech, the longest in at least a century from what we could figure out. She told her members or rather told reporters but sends a signal to her members this morning at a Press Conference where she said she will vote against the budget deal. That was a surprise considering that she was involved behind the scenes in these negotiations, not necessarily a surprise in the context of that floor speech, but the critical thing that she also said, she was asked if she is whipping against the budget deal so essentially is she going to go to all the members of her conference and say, dont do this and nancy pelosi is very good at holding her conference together and she
well be tracking any unexpected developments here but right now and this is steve a pretty rare thing or has become a pretty rare thing, this bipartisan budget deal is on track because the reality is, congress can do things when both parties are on board. Steve . We got the Shutdown Clock ticking away in the lower right. Main it wont get to zero this. Reporter i think everyone is still scarred from weeks ago. Thank you for that. With us now is lonnie chen now the director of Domestic Policy at stanford university. Matt and katherine still here with me. Lonnie let me bring you in from a republican standpoint. We talk about this budget deal and to go back in time here and to put this into perspective, whats happening here when we talk about this increased domestic spending is that the limits that were put in place when republicans got control of congress after the 2010 midterms, that Pea Party Upriding was taking place, that
big standoff and ryan and obama. They put all these all these limits went in place then they are now being lifted. The deficit just next year alone, it looks like itll jump up another trillion dollars. When you think back to that time in the tea party and you will all the concerns about the deficit, how is this acceptable . Well, i guess all the fiscal hawks have flown away. Its pretty clear that fiscal discipline is not the paramount value for republicans in congress any more. There are some republicans in the house who are holding firm. I think theres a few in the senate who are saying, we cant possibly sign off on the increased spending. A lot of republicans liked the increased spending on the defense side of the ledger but they had to agree to these massive spending increases on the domestic discretionary side of the ledger. What youre seeing as you noted earlier is a 1. 2 trillion deficit in 2019 and deficits that may be over 2 trillion by the time we get to 2027 if the
trump tax cuts are made permanent. This is a lot of spending and its really against character and form but i guess were in a day and age in washington where fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility, those values dont matter as much as any more. I wonder just to go back, we see this tea party movement, that label was so prominent, we dont say tea parties much any more, it seems to me what we used to call the tea party in a lot of ways became the trump base. Did we misunderstand back then what was really animating the tea party when we said it was all about spending and deficits . Thats a great point. What we actually saw was that Many Republican voters are much more comfortable with larger government than we thought. For many, many years republicans were out there arguing for the need for a restrained Central Government when, in fact, a lot of voters were really saying, look, in theory we like the idea of Smaller Government but in reality, there are all these things government does that we
like maybe more than we thought. I think its very difficult also to overstate the role that obamacare played in that 2010 wave. That continues to be an animating force. The sheer notion of fiscal discipline, the notion that government has to restrain spending. That is something that is more of a Talking Point than actual reality. Let me bring my panel in here. On this question of the size of government, Government Spending, was there less of an appetite there on the right all along for that . This is the death of the tea party. The final ceremonial could have finn through the stake, stake through the heart of the tea party one of the animating things back then was the mythical trillion dollars deficit figure. My god, a trillion dollars deficit, are we really going to do this . This happened of course after the bailout and the stimulus. Thats a big thing to swallow there. People were talking this is a sign that we have to put a curb
donald trump. They thought we were the craziest people in the room. We have to remember that part of the reason well have a trillion dollars deficit this year is also because of tax cuts. Its not only on the spending side. Its also on the tax side where were being fiscally reckless. Republicans care about deficits only when theres a democrat in the white house. An important thing to remember, by the way, is not only should we dare about the thakt that well have a trillion doll