The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee plans to query the FBI about who accused wife abuser Rob Porter was allowed to remain as White House staff secretary.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, who made a name for himself with zealous probes into Benghazi and the Clinton email scandal, said he planned to query the FBI about Porter – who failed to get a permanent security clearance after two ex wives told the FBI about abuse.
Porter resigned after DailyMail.com reported their allegations against him.
Asked if Oversight would open an investigation into the matter, Gowdy told CNN: ‘We did last night.’
‘How do you have any job if you have credible allegations of domestic abuse?’ asked Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina
‘You can call it official, you can call it unofficial,’ Gowdy said. ‘I’m going to direct questions to the FBI that I expect them to answer. And if they don’t answer them, then they’re going to need to give me a really good reason.’
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Tuesday that the White House got four separate notifications about Rob Porter. But in its latest explanation, the White House said Tuesday that an internal review by an obscure office was still being conducted.
‘How do you have any job if you have credible allegations of domestic abuse?’ Gowdy asked. Again, I am biased towards the victims,’ the former federal prosecutor from South Carolina told CNN’s New Day. ‘I spent two decades believing them. But you don’t have to be biased towards the victim to ask how in the hell did this happen?”’
Describing his inquiry, Gowdy said: ‘You can call it official. You can call it unofficial. I’m going to direct questions to the FBI that I expect them to answer. And if they don’t answer them, then they’re going to need to give me a really good reason.’
Gowdy continued: ‘I spent two decades believing women and children who alleged abuse – even sometimes when no one else did,” Gowdy said. “Whether or not there is a security clearance issue or not, I have real questions about whether someone like this can be considered for employment, whether there’s a security clearance issue or not. So yeah, I’m troubled by almost every aspect of this.”
Gowdy is retiring at the end of his term this year. The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, has been calling for the committee to investigate. Gowdy denied committee Republicans have been resisting an inquiry.
Gowdy said he would ask the FBI to reveal who received information about Porter’s background investigation
‘Who knew what when and to what extent – those are the questions that I think ought to be asked … And if you knew it in 2017 and the bureau briefed them three times, then how in the hell was he still employed?’ he said.
He said chief of staff John Kelly was one person to ask, as is White House counsel Don McGahn, who sources have said had knowledge of abuse allegations.
‘What did you know, from whom did you hear it?’ Gowdy said. ‘The chronology is not favorable from the White House.’
He said he has additional questions for the FBI and would seek a meeting with Wray.
Asked how Porter could have remained at the White House, he responded: ‘
“That’s a good question and I don’t know the answer,” said Gowdy. “If you knew it in 2017 and the bureau briefed them three times, then how in the hell was still he employed? The security clearance is a separate issue — it’s an important issue, but separate.