The White House kept spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders away from the podium for a second day in a row on Thursday as the saga involving Rob Porter continued and the nation grappled with a tragic school shooting.
A briefing with Sanders was pushed back repeatedly the day before and then cancelled altogether as details emerged about the shooting.
An on-camera question and answer session was missing altogether from today’s guidance as it was revealed that Sanders wanted the White House chief of staff or counsel to clean up the Porter mess. The White House hastily added a call on immigration reform to the schedule midday.
On the over-the-phone briefing, a reporter angered an official when he asked the White House how it had time for a discussion on immigration but could not appropriate a space for reporters to take questions on gun violence.
‘Other than the 10-minute statement that the president gave?’ an official retorted.
The White House kept spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders away from the podium for a second day in a row on Thursday as the saga involving Rob Porter continued and the nation grappled with a tragic school shooting
An on-camera question and answer session was missing altogether from today’s guidance as it was revealed that Sanders wanted the White House chief of staff, John Kelly (LEFT) or counsel, Don McGhan (RIGHT) to clean up the Porter mess
Questions about the shooting had been slapped down during the call and reporters were directed to discuss their questions about the issue with the White House offline.
President Trump had delivered brief remarks lasting about six minutes on the Parkland, Florida, shooting this morning from the White House’s diplomatic room. But he left immediately after without taking any questions about his administration’s position on gun violence prevention legislation.
In his remarks Trump said he would be meeting with governors and attorney generals later this month and that ‘making our schools and our children safer’ would be a priority in the discussion.
‘It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference,’ the president said.
Trump did not make a specific call to action, though, and was criticized by Democrats for failing to mention firearms in his remarks at all aside from a reference to the gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School yesterday afternoon.
On a call on Thursday afternoon, officials hid behind the cloak of anonymity to berate Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham for an immigration reform proposal the president doesn’t like.
A question and answer session with reporters on camera on Friday was also uncertain with a presidential trip to Florida up in the air.
The White House cancelled an event in Orlando without calling the entire trip, which could see Trump stop by Parkland, off.
A Politico report on Wednesday evening said that Sanders had pushed for Kelly to face the press or McGhan on Wednesday as questions continued to percolate on another matter – the White House’s botched handling of allegations of domestic abuse against former staff secretary Porter.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Tuesday that the bureau gave the White House a partial update on Porter’s background check in March and three additional updates after that. In January, it closed its case file on Porter and sent its findings to the White House.
Who at the White House knew about Porter’s past – and when – has been at the top of reporters’ notebooks.
Kelly and McGahn are said to have known about the abuse allegations since November, although the White House has claimed that the chief of staff was not ‘fully aware’ until DailyMail.com ran a pair of reports that included a court filing and pictures.
It was not until those articles were published that Kelly says he realized the accusations ‘were true.’
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy says that the House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the matter.
‘How do you have any job if you have credible allegations of domestic abuse?’ Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, asked on CNN. ‘You don’t have to be biased towards the victim to ask how in the hell did this happen?’
Gowdy said he has ‘real questions about whether someone like this can be considered for employment’ regardless of the conversation taking place about the interim security clearance that Porter was granted to Porter while his background check was conducted.
‘I’m troubled by almost every aspect of this,’ the Republican Congressman said on Wednesday morning.
The White House press briefing for that day was later cancelled.