Rob Porter’s ex-wife claims he will abuse Hope Hicks

Rob Porter’s ex-wife has claimed that if he isn’t already abusing girlfriend Hope Hicks, it is only a matter of time before he does.  

Porter stepped down from his role as White House staff secretary this week following on-the-record claims to DailyMail.com from his ex-wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby, about the abuse they had suffered during their marriages. 

Hicks, who has been romantically involved with Porter for months, has supposedly told some people that she doesn’t think the allegations made by Porter’s two ex-wives are true, a source told Vanity Fair. 

The source added that the White House communications boss has been privately defending Porter in the wake of the scandal.  

But Porter’s second wife, Willoughby, revealed on Thursday that she feared for Hicks.

‘I don’t think he’s changed,’ Willoughby told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. 

‘It definitely worries me because if I’m being frank with you, if he hasn’t already been abusive with Hope, he will. Particularly now that he’s under a lot of stress and scrutiny. That’s when the behaviors come out.’

Colbie Holderness, 37, (left) who is a senior analyst for the U.S. government, spoke on the record to DailyMail.com about her five-year marriage following the on-the-record allegations by Rob Porter’s second wife, Jennifer Willoughby (right)

A downcast Hicks was spotted leaving her home alone on Thursday morning before getting into a car, presumably heading to work.

It was expected to be Porter’s final day in the White House.

Holderness, Porter’s first wife, told DailyMail.com earlier this week that he had choked and punched her, providing photographs of one alleged attack.

His second wife, Willoughby, revealed on Tuesday that he had once dragged her wet and naked out of the shower and was verbally abusive, calling her a f***ing b***h’ on their honeymoon. 

The two sets of revelations have stunned the White House and led to a dramatic exit for Porter. 

In a press briefing on Thursday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah revealed Porter was terminated before he offered his resignation. 

But the White House refused to say in the briefing when Chief of Staff John Kelly, or anyone else, found out about the allegations of spousal abuse against Porter.

Shah, filling in for the vacationing Sarah Sanders, would only say that Kelly became ‘fully aware’ of the accusations when DailyMail.com published photos of Porter’s first wife Holderness that she says were taken after he punched her on a vacation. 

DailyMail.com revealed last week that White House comms director and high level staffer Rob Porter and Hope Hicks are dating, and were seen kissing in a cab on the way back to her apartment

Hicks, 29, appeared downcast as she stepped out of her apartment building carrying a black handbag and wrapped up in black coat over a purple turtleneck dress and leopard-print heels 

‘I’m not going to get into the specifics regarding who may have known what pieces of information because they were all part of an ongoing background check investigation,’ Shah said in his debut behind the White House podium.

But the FBI learned about the allegations after conducting a background check on Porter. It concluded that he could be subjected to blackmail due to what was uncovered, a source tells DailyMail.com.

The FBI refused to give him permanent security clearly because of what they found.

Shah called the images ‘graphic’ and the women’s allegations ‘credible’ in a televised briefing where Porter’s resignation led the discussion.

He said the White House official was ‘terminated’ on Wednesday, although he’d been seen on the property earlier in the day.

At issue in the briefing was Porter’s handling of classified information in his role as staff secretary even though he had never been approved for permanent security clearance. 

Porter was operating on ‘interim’ clearance while the background check process that has stretched for more than a year continued to unfold, Shah claimed.

‘This is part of an ongoing investigation. We trust the background check process. The chief of staff does not get detailed updates about what may or may not have been alleged,’ he said.

Senior White House aides – possibly even John Kelly – were made aware of spousal abuse allegations against Porter in November after the FBI learned about them during a background check.

Despite this, Porter remained in his sensitive post.

Kelly had initially fiercely backed Porter calling him a man of ‘integrity and honor’ but issued a statement late Wednesday expressing his shock over the ‘new’ allegations 

‘To have someone in that job who can be so easily blackmailed is crazy,’ Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who served as staff secretary for Bill Clinton, told DailyMail.com.

‘Every day there’s a stack of red folders on this guy’s desk that have the most secret info the government possesses and he has been walking it into the president,’ he said.

He noted that the staff secretary only has two ‘direct reports’: the chief of staff and the president.

‘To have someone in that job for 14 months with no national security clearance, is outrageous. And John Kelly owns that and has some very tough questions to answer, not just about why he’s still defending him, which is outrageous, but about why you would allow someone to be in this position who can be so easily blackmailed. It’s crazy.’

Maloney is calling for a House Oversight Committee investigation into what happened and singled out Kelly’s role.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, blasted his Republican colleagues on Thursday for stonewalling his request to obtain information about the security clearance process.

‘If you had agreed to any of our previous requests for information on these matters, the White House would have been required to answer key questions about why Mr Porter was denied a final security clearance, who at the White House was aware of this information, and how Mr Porter was allowed to remain in his position,’ Cummings wrote in a letter to committee chairman Trey Gowdy.

Kelly is coming under fire for his efforts to shield Porter on several fronts at a time when the #MeToo movement is rocking Hollywood and the national culture.

A leading feminist organization is demanding the White House chief of staff’s head over his ‘pathetic’ defense of Porter. The National Organization of Women called Kelly an ‘enabler of sexual absusers’ in a Thursday morning statement and said he must also resign.

NOW President Toni Van Pelt said: ‘It’s not honorable to beat up women. There is no integrity involved in being violent when you go home. These are not American values.’

Colbie told DailyMail.com that while she and Porter were on a vacation in Florence, Italy, a couple of years after they married in the early 2000s, Porter punched her in the face 

Says Colbie: ‘We were arguing and he punched me in the face. He left visible marks when he punched me and I have pictures of that. I didn’t go the police because I was scared, I was in Italy alone and I didn’t know what to do.’

Kelly had described Porter as a ‘man of true integrity and honor’ after he was informed that on-the-record spousal abuse allegations from the senior official’s second wife would be appearing in a story on DailyMail.com.

‘I think its clear, starting at the very top in our country, that they see women as collateral damage that they see women as objects,’ Van Pelt said. ‘They are actually giving permission to abusers. They are giving permission to men to disrespect women and to treat them with disregard.’

Hicks helped draft the supportive statement on Porter on behalf Kelly.

Other strong statements of support for Porter were released by Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Orrin Hatch, although the latter walked by some of his remarks after learning details of the alleged abuse.

Kelly had initially fiercely backed Porter calling him a man of ‘integrity and honor.’

‘He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him,’ he added. 

It was not until the 9pm hour on Wednesday – exactly 12 hours after DailyMail.com published its second story – that Kelly said he was ‘shocked by the new allegations’ against Porter.

‘There is no place for domestic violence in our society,’ Kelly stated.

But digging in his heels on his defense of Porter, Kelly added: ‘I stand by my previous comments of the Rob Porter that I have come to know since becoming Chief of Staff, and believe every individual deserves the right to defend their reputation. 

‘I accepted his resignation earlier today, and will ensure a swift and orderly transition.’

In the fallout from Porter’s resignation on Wednesday it has emerged from sources inside the White House that some White House aides had known for months about the domestic abuse allegations against Porter.

During the taxi ride back to Hope’s apartment the secret lovers could be seen cuddling in the back seat. One eyewitness said Porter could be seen kissing Hope’s neck

Hope exits the taxi while Rob pays for the ride before they both enter her D.C. apartment at the end of the evening

The new couple was seen dining with friends in the capital. Above Porter and Hicks are seen drinking at the low-key Rosa Mexicana restaurant

Rob was seen opening the door as the couple returned to Hope’s D.C. apartment after dinner

Both Holderness and Willoughby told DailyMail.com that they had reported the domestic abuse to the FBI during security clearance interviews for Porter earlier this year. He was working at the highest level of government, with daily access to President Trump, with only a temporary security clearance.

A source told DailyMail.com that the FBI learned about the allegations after conducting a background check and it concluded that Porter could be subjected to blackmail due to what was uncovered. 

Officials also knew in advance about a 2010 protective order that DailyMail.com published in the original story, according to Politico.

As staff secretary, Porter has had access to every piece of classified information that goes through the White House. He was a key ally of Kelly is his effort to vet information that reaches the president and impose discipline on the flow. 

The allegations delayed Porter’s ability to get permanent security clearance, but he was granted interim clearance when he joined the White House in January 2017. 

Temporary clearances are common in the first 4-6 months of an administration, and in the first three months of a new senior level hire. But his extended for 13 months.

It was not immediately clear if Porter was able to operate under a temporary clearance pending approval, or if he had access to less than the full array of information that would normally be required of his high-level post.  

Last week DailyMail.com revealed that Hicks, a 29-year-old former model, was dating Porter, a 40-year-old Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar, after obtaining exclusive pictures of them dining with friends in the capital.

Porter and Hicks dined with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s spokesman Josh Raffel and two other friends, but were at pains not to show any sign of affection. The pair did not sit next to each other at the low-key Rosa Mexicana restaurant.

But the moment they got in the cab to go back to Hicks’ apartment, they started cuddling and kissing in the back seat.

‘As soon as the taxi took off they both moved from their sides of the cab to the middle. Rob was kissing Hope’s neck all the way home,’ an eyewitness said.

The couple were also spotted at a D.C. area church service on January 7, sources told DailyMailTV. They prayed together even though they come from different religions. Porter is a Mormon while Hicks is Roman Catholic.

Porter, 40, was working at the highest level of government, with daily access to President Trump, with only a temporary security clearance

Porter had been living with a willowy blonde political appointee, according to sources. The woman split with Porter around Thanksgiving, a White House source told DailyMailTV exclusively.

She walked out of his apartment after discovering suggestive text messages between Porter and Hicks, one of Trump’s closest and most trusted advisors.

Additionally, both of Porter’s ex-wives independently told DailyMail.com that they were in contact with a third woman who is believed to be the former White House aide’s longtime girlfriend.

DailyMail.com is declining to name her because she is an alleged victim of domestic abuse and she has not come forward. Attempts to reach her have been unsuccessful.

In messages, reviewed by DailyMail.com, the woman also describes abuse from Porter and was reaching out for advice from the ex-wives.

In December 2016, the woman wrote to Holderness: ‘Over the years I have desperately wanted to reach out to you, but Rob forbade me. 

‘I have been with Rob off and on now for a little over three years, and don’t know where to turn to discuss my experience or how to escape it. I work in politics, and despite Rob’s repeated abuse, some of which I think many know about, he continues to rise and I’m afraid to go against him.’ 

In a later message, she wrote: ‘I guess the questions that keep going through my head are ‘is it just me?!’ and then sort of wondering, just what IS it with Rob, what is his psychological condition and is it redeemable or can he get help?? He can go from being the sweetest kindest person to a complete abusive monster in minutes.’ 

She also speaks about her desire to speak up to FBI about the abuse but said: ‘I am just scared and feel tremendous stress over this’.

Rumors about Hicks and Porter were sparked after the couple were seen at a Washington, D.C. area church service on January 7

‘Rob was abusive, degrading, a liar and a cheater and during the course of my relationship with him, I found out that he was to others, too,’ the woman wrote to Willoughby in February 2016, in a message shared with DailyMail.com. ‘I am just searching for someone who might be able to relate to the hell I have gone through.’

Hicks is the younger daughter of Paul Hicks, a former head of public relations for the NFL. She was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and was co-captain of her high school lacrosse team.

She and her sister Mary Grace both modeled as teens getting work for Ralph Lauren, Macy’s, Sears, Target, and The Limited Too.

She started working in public relations after graduating from Southern Methodist University and got work helping with Ivanka Trump’s fashion line. Eventually Ivanka lured her to join the company full-time.

Though both her parents had worked for former congressmen – Paul Hicks for Connecticut Republican Stewart McKinney and mom Caye Hicks for Tennessee Democrat Ed Jones – Hope herself had had no prior political experience.

Before being tapped to join the new administration, Porter had been chief of staff for veteran Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. He has also worked for Republican senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah.

His job has been described as one of the most important in the Oval Office as he, working with chief of staff John Kelly, controls the information that reaches the president.

‘Porter, a little-known White House aide who has avoided getting caught up in any of the West Wing drama that has plagued the administration for the better part of seven months, serves to review everything before it makes it to the president’s desk,’ Business Insider wrote in September.

‘Given how the president has shared dubious information at times when aides have presented him with reports from less-than-credible sources, Porter’s role has an outsized importance,’ it added.

‘Talk to people who worked with him in the past, and they’ll repeatedly mention his intelligence, experience, and team-first attitude.’

His father, Roger Porter, was an aide to President George H.W. Bush.