Abused two exwives. The administration is trying to explain why kellys chief enforcer kept his job. This despite two sources telling nbc news kelly knew about the allegations months ago. You cannot beat the hell out of your spouse. It is illegal and it is immoral. Stepping aside in my judgment was the right decision by mr. Porter. There can be zero tolerance. Its one thing when an employee is trying to cover up some uncomfortable or disgusting facts from their background like this, but john kelly is supposed to know better. He decided the white male employee working for him couldnt possibly beat his who dont remember wives because he said he didnt. Without a security clearance, i didnt understand that and still dont. What general kelly knew and when he knew it is important. Im not going to comment about that. Im not going to second guess general kelly whos about a straight shooter as youll ever find in the government. Both women accusing porter have confirmed the account of their allegations to nbc news. Well hear from one of them describing that abuse in just a moment. Porter denies both claims, calling them, quote, simply false. But despite photographic evidence, hes defended him as a man of honor. Were keeping our eye on capitol hill where the senate could vote on a bill that would add almost 300 billion in spending. Theres not just no on the bill, but hes a hell no. Medical brooks of alabama will be my guest. But first, lets debrief with our team of reporters on this scandal surrounding white house staff secretary rob porter. Kelly odonnell is at the white house. With me on set is Vivian Solano and philip rucker, bureau chief for the washington post. Also with us, catherine lucy, a White House Reporter for the associated press. Kelly, i want to start with you. Lets walk through the timeline how this all unfolded tuesday night. The dailymail. Com put out the report, and in statements porter slams the allegations as false. Kelly calls him a man of sbru integrity. Fast forward to yesterday where he confirms hes leaving and Sarah Huckabee sanders tells reporters, quote, the president and chief of staff had full confidence and trust in his abilities and performance. And then last night nbc news confirms that kelly was aware of these allegations before the story broke. Kelly later releasing a new statement that says he was shocked by the new allegations. What were the instincts behind the scenes here . On its face, kasie, it would appear the people around the president were judging rob porter by the man they knew to work, many talk about his professional capabilities, and so perhaps they were leaning too heavily on that. It would appear that after photos became public showing the alleged abuse thats when john kelly adjusted his statement. What weve heard from rob porter, who we believe is serving in his last day at the white house today having submitted his resignation, and then given what was at first an indefinite period of time for transition, and now were told today is it. Porter has denied these allegations, but two former wives have each come forward with similar stories. They came forward in part because once he was nominated to serve in this high position in the white house, they were a part of what would be a standard background check where fbi agents speak to those who are close in an individuals life and find areas that are compromising. They shared these stories with the fbi sometime ago. Based on what we know, the white house will not say the status of porters security clearance or that of any other member serving here but it would appear he does not have the proper security clearance, may have had a temporary one. Kelly walked back a bit his prays for porter now saying these allegations are shocking. Theres a change here, but it really goes back to the credibility of two women who told their stories to the media. In this video from the washington post, jennifer willowby describes what she went through. During one of these fights we were both yelling at each other. I disengaged and removed myself from the fight to 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 her credibility has been certainly a part of this along with his first exwife. And they have certainly got the sympathy and the ear of many people whove been disturbed by these allegations against porter. He maintains that its not as it appears, but the white house is certainly separating from rob porter. This issue also speaks to sort of what was not known about a man who was wellknown in washington having served on three prominent republican senators staffs in senior positions as well. Kelly, thanks for that. Phil rucker, youve been digging into john kellys role in all of this and what impact it has on his credibility. What have you learned and what is his position right now in the white house . Is his credibility damaged enough that it could affect his standing . People who observed john kelly remember he was a four starr marine corps general. Since joining the Trump Administration, hes had a number of moments here where his credibility has been called into question. Remember those false attacks he had against Democratic Congresswoman fredricka wilson. And his handling of the porter situation is leaving a lot of doubt, including people in the west wing about how much credibility he really has left at this point. Why did the white house go to the mat so quickly for rob porter . Did they not have all the information . What was the thinking . We dont know the full story yet. Hopeful raj shah will fill in those details. Part of it is because every liked and trusted him in his professional life. This was a huge surprise to people. He was seen as real straight arrow, someone working very professionally and competently. The title seems to suggest hes in an administrative role, but he was kellys right hand in instilling discipline. Kathryn lucy, you were at the white house for the ap. What do you see rob porter doing every day as far as his closeness with the president , his involvement in the day to day, and is there a sign he may have misled john kelly about these allegations . Porter really was viewed as a significant part of this administration and a real rising star. He handled all the paperwork that went to the president s desk and was seen as sort of a chief of staff to kelly. And was part of the everett to try and bring discipline and order and stability to the west wing. In terms of his communications about his clearance, were still trying to get the full details on what he told people and who knew what and when. Were getting more clarity we hope at the briefing today. We have a little bit of sound from former Vice President joe biden. I want to play that and then well talk about it. How do you explain his access to the president of the United States and the chief of staff, frankly, in the last 24 hours . I cant explain it. Its long past do you. Hes departed. If you just look at it from a perspective of one thing, the fbi didnt think he should get a security clearance. They had to know that . Sure they knew that, and they still do. The culture is changing, thank god, but not fast enough. The idea this would happen in the oval office. I dont know, i heard when the president found out about it, he said go. If thats the case that the president didnt know about it, good for the president. How could the president not know one of his closest advisers didnt have a top security clearance . What does that say about the president in this white house . Andrea, im having an enormous difficulty understanding how this white house functions. Joe biden and andrea. You covered both National Security and the white house. It is significant that there would be an aide with access to this kind of information who was operating without a security clearance. Or at this point we suspect that he also caused the interim, the temporary clearance which would give of him all access in most cases, but what happens is essentially when theyre conducting the background checks to process the paperwork for clearance, the fbi or any of the Intel Services might say this guy has a questionable background and so you need to issue a waiver. What does that waiver suggest . It basically says you take the liability away from us. You are the ones, its on your head if this person comes up with issues down the line. Its on you, its not on us. So a number of people within the administration would have had to be informed about it. Were still trying to determine exactly who, but essentially the fbi would have told them that moving forward. What do we mean by questionable background . In this case they would be concerned about someone whos vulnerable to blackmail, for example, domestic violence. A reason to give a Foreign Government information. This is definitely one of those cases where Something Like that would come up. Whether or not president knew, were still trying to determine. Seems determined the president was unaware of the fact he did not have the sort of allsweeping clearances that a number of people do. Normally the staff secretary would have all access. Because theyre so close to the president . Exactly. Phil whats your reporting of where kelly stands with the president and what kind of impact is this incident having . We have no indication that its having much of an impact at all on kellys relationship with the president. The president has at times over the last six months that kellys been chief of staff chafed at some of the restrictions kellys imposed, maybe complained occasional to friends about him, but he has adamantly defended his chief of staff publicly. He said hes doing a great job, nobody had reporting of late to suggest kellys on the brink of being fired. I think the question is more does kelly lose credibility inside the administration and outside of it and how the dominos fall internally if there are other aides what may take some of the fall for having protected porter. Is there a straw that broke the camels back . Theres a mounting Public Relations crisis. Its become a fire storm for this white house. Thank you all so much. Really appreciate it. Up next, can Congress Beat the clock and avert another Government Shutdown . The senate is set to vote on a plan any minute now. But does it stand a chance in the house . This spending bill is a debt junkies dream. Im not only a no. Im a hell no. Ill speak to mo brooks. Were going to ask him directly live up next. Or make a back seat that feels nothing like a back seat . Why give it every feature you could want, along with a few you didnt know you needed . Its simple. You can build a car, or you can build a cadillac. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac ct6. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 cadillac ct6 from around 549 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. Looking for a hotel that fits. From arounwhoooo. Per month. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. You or joints. Something for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Im the king of debt. Im great with did he tell you no one knows debt better than me. I made a fortune using debt. If things dont work out, i renegotiate the debt. Donald trump once called himself the king of debt and now his party appears to be following in his foot steps. The Current National debt stands at nearly 20. 5 trillion. The republican tax plan passed last year could add another 1. 5 trillion that that number. The new bipartisan budget deal calls for more domestic and defense spending that would tack on another 300 billion. We are watching to see if we get a vote in the senate anytime now. It is expected to pass despite some fiscal hocks expressing concern. They cant say effect of this budget deal on the deficit . Its not good. And im i feel like i have to choose between love and honor on this thing. I feel like im between the hammer and the anvil. Its a bad deal. It just spends too much money, 300 billion over the next year and funding will be out of control. Its too much. So far flake, bob corker of tennessee, and steve daines of montana are the republican senators who said they are voting against this bill. And now were hearing that senator rand paul is holding all this up. How is that for a turn of events . I i want to go to garrett haake. Quickly before we talk to congressman mo brooks, we have been watching the floor and we hear frank thorpz who talked to john cornyn about this. Whats going on . It wouldnt be a critical budget vote without a rand paul moment. The senate needs all 100 senators to go to a unanimous consent to say were ready to deal with this now and not take the required time that would force them to miss the deadline to keep the government open. Rand paul is holding that up. He wants on amendment to say were not going to do this. Were not going to go through the budget caps and keep this spending number lower and leadership doesnt necessarily want to do that, they dont want to open up this process. They have a deal. And they dont want somebody to hold this negotiation hostage. So Senate Republican leaders are trying to work out a compromise that can satisfy rand pauls complaints about this process and about how much this bill is going to cost that still allows them to get this done before the deadline and kick it over to the house where it becomes your next guest problem. Ill leave it there so you can talk moe brooks about it. Moe brooks is a member of the freedom caucus. I appreciate you being here today. My pleasure. Good to hear rand paul is doing what he often does. He does not go unnoticed. We have seen this movie before. Congressman, we played a sound bite at the top where donald trump called himself the king of debt. You have said that you are a hell no on this bill because of what it adds to the debt. But the president says this is a deal that he supports. Do you think the president is portraying the Republican Party in their stand on fiscal responsibility . I think the president wants money for National Security and i agree with the additional amounts for National Security. In fact, i voted that way just tuesday, two days ago. It would have increased it by 60 billion in levelfunded the parks of the federal government. Normally when you send something across to the senate from the house, the compromise is if we want 50, and i dont like it, how about 20, or 30, or 40 . Thats the compromise. What the senate did in this instance was absolutely blow everything up. They fulfilled every debt junkies dream and decided to spend 230 billion that we dont have. We cant afford to pay it back and in time its going to result in a trillion dollars deficit for this year alone not counting future years. National defense or military may have to be dissolved because we dont have the money to pay for them. Thats what happens when youre in a bankruptcy situation. Do you think the House Speaker has let the party down . He was a party to this, led the agreement and says its a good deal. I dont want to focus on individual people. Im happy to discuss public policy. And i will reiterate that this is a terrible bill substantively and symbolically for the United States of america. It rushes us in the direction of bankruptcy on a string of trillion dollars a year deficit that goes down until we become insolvent. Symbolically its telling the American People that not only can you counted on democrats to spend on money we dont have, but by golly, you have republicans who want to outbid them on ow how badly we can perform. I think thats a horrible symbolic message to send to the world, particularly to those creditors who may decide they may no longer want to loan us money. If your critto all of a sudder todays circumstances, if this bill passes, we have a trillion dollars hole in our spending. Roughlily 4 trillion being spent, and i dont know where its going to come from. Would you rather see the Government Shutdown than see this budget deal pass . I dont want either one. I want us to pass a reasonable bill. At this point its one or the other . Its not one or the other. At any moment we can pass a different kind of legislation that resolves this issue without a Government Shutdown on the one hand and without being financially irresponsible on the other. Thats what i think we should be doing. I thought thats what we did on tuesday when it is house passed legislation that avoided Government Shutdown. And then something happened over the United States senate between Mitch Mcconnell and chuck schumer. I dont know what theyre drinking over there, but theyre certainly not paying attention to americas future and they should not be putting us at greater risk of bankruptcy that will have a debilltating effect on american lives. If this is as you say it is, what do you say to American Voters who may be surprised that its republicans, its a republicanheld congress, and a republican white house, leading you down this road . If you want to avoid a National Insolvency and bankruptcy that will do great damage, then please pay more attention to the people you send to washington, d. C. , and vote acordingly. By definition, congress is a reflection of the American People because the American People sent us all here. If the American People keep sending people to washington, d. C. , who feel their first duty is spending money we dont have, then were going to continue to do it and make your debt situation worse until the creditors decide theyre not going to loan us anymore money and boom like there a were in bankruptcy. Our creditors control it. Keep in mind some of those creditors are adversaries, and they have a motivation to try to un