Abuse Case Exposes Fissures in a White House in Turmoil<br />“The problem here was with Mr. Porter, not with the chief of staff.”<br />The image of a White House at cross purposes was reinforced at another point in the interview when Mr. Mulvaney said<br />that if he were still a congressman, he most likely would not have voted for the two-year budget deal that Mr. Trump just signed into law, a comment that angered others in the White House.<br />Mr. Porter has told associates that he had informed White House officials last year<br />that he had two ex-wives who, he said, had manufactured claims about him.<br />Mr. Kelly again said Mr. Porter needed to leave, the people said.<br />When White House officials learned last week that The Daily Mail would publish an article about allegations by the ex-wives, Hope Hicks, the communications director, who had been dating Mr. Porter,<br />and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the press secretary, approached Mr. Kelly about a statement in support of him, according to two people briefed on the events.<br />Mr. Kelly, who had been on Capitol Hill much of the day, agreed to have a statement issued in his name describing the charges as “vile.”<br />Nonetheless, the people briefed on the discussions said, Mr. Kelly told Mr. Porter at some point later that evening that he needed to resign.
