The White House on Tuesday said FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony does not contradict its account of how it handled domestic abuse allegations against former top aide Rob Porter.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the FBI’s background investigation was closed, as Wray told Congress, but a White House Personnel Security Office investigation was still underway.
“The process was still ongoing when Rob Porter resigned,” Sanders said.
Wray’s testimony dealt a blow to the White House, which has struggled to move past the Porter controversy, now in its seventh day.
The FBI chief told the Senate Intelligence Committee the bureau first delivered a partial report on Porter’s problems uncovered in a background check in March 2017, well before the White House said it knew about the abuse allegations.
Wray also told senators the FBI closed its file on Porter in January, even though the White House has said the background-check process for Porter’s security clearance was still ongoing.
Sanders said the personnel security office was still reviewing information provided by the FBI after it submitted its final report on the investigation last summer.
“The White House Personnel Security Office, which is staffed by career officials, may have received information. But they had not completed their process and made a recommendation to the White House for adjudication,” she said.