Trump telling aides he wants to bring back Rob Porter: report

President Trump is reportedly hoping to bring back Rob Porter, the aide who left the White House after reports of domestic abuse allegations from his two ex-wives. 

The New York Times reported that Trump has kept in touch with Porter since his departure last month, and has increased the frequency of phone calls with the former staff secretary in recent weeks.

A White House official told the Times that Trump has told aides he misses the staff structure that Porter organized in the administration. 

After his resignation, the president repeatedly emphasized that Porter had denied the allegations. He told reporters that he hoped Porter “has a great career ahead of him.”

“I found out about it very recently, and I was surprised by it,” Trump said in February. “But we certainly wish him well, obviously a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House and we hope he has a wonderful, hopefully, he has a great career ahead of him.”

{mosads}Chief of staff John Kelly faced backlash over his handling of the situation. He defended Porter at first, calling him “a man of true integrity and honor” and “a friend, a confidant and a trusted professional.” Kelly later issued a statement condemning domestic abuse, and said he engineered Porter’s departure after the reports emerged of the physical abuse allegations, including photographic evidence from one of Porter’s ex-wives.

Porter’s departure also sparked a major controversy over the security clearance process in the Trump administration. He had been working on an interim security clearance at the time of his departure, and it was reported that Kelly and other officials knew about the allegations against Porter early on in his White House tenure because they came to light through the FBI’s background check. 

Kelly later overhauled the interim security clearance process, resulting in multiple staffers leaving the administration and Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner having his clearance downgraded.