As more facts come out about the Rob Porter saga, the timeline of what top White House officials knew and when they knew it is coming into sharp focus:
Rob Porter and President Donald Trump
2003: Rob Porter marries Colbie Holderness. She later said his pattern of spousal abuse began during their honeymoon.
2005: Porter punches Holderness in the face during a vacation in Italy, according to her; photos taken at the time shows her black eye.
2008: Porter and Holderness divorce.
2009: Porter marries Jennifer Willoughby.
June 2010: Willoughby files a court request for an emergency restraining order against Porter.
2013: Porter and Willoughby divorce.
February 2016: A Porter girlfriend contacts Willoughby and Holderness, asking them how to handle an abusive relationship with Porter.
January 20, 2017: Porter begins work at the White House, operating under a temporary security clearance.
January 25, 2017: The FBI contacts Willoughby as part of a background check on Porter, and she tells agents her story. Willoughby tells Porter what she had explained to the FBI, and he warns White House Counsel Don McGahn that there might be unflattering information in his background check.
February 2017: Holderness contacts Willoughby and the two discuss their stories, realizing their common experiences.
Colbie Holderness, Porter’s first wife, (left) claims he repeatedly punched and choked her. His second wife Jennifer Willoughby has also claimed that Porter was abusive in their marriage
March 2017: The FBI submits ‘a partial report on the investigation’ to the White House, according to director Christopher Wray.
April 2017: Willoughby writes an anonymous blog post detailing her turbulent marriage, while not mentioning Porter by name.
Late July 2017, date unknown: The FBI gives the White House ‘a completed background investigation’ on Porter, according to Wray.
July 28, 2017: President Donald Trump announces on Twitter that he has appointed John Kelly as White House Chief of Staff, succeeding Reince Priebus.
‘Soon after’ late July 2017: The FBI receives the White House’s ‘requests for [a] followup inquiry’ about Porter, according to Wray.
September 2017: Porter tells McGahn that he has been interviewed a second time by the FBI.
November 2017 or earlier: Porter begins dating White House Communications Director Hope Hicks
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly
November 2017: A Porter ex-girlfriend contacts McGahn and gives him details of the two ex-wives’ allegations. The FBI gives the White House the results of its followup investigation into Porter.
January 2018: According to Wray, the FBI ‘administratively closed the file’ on Porter’s background check.
February 2018, date unknown: According to Wray, the FBI ‘received some additional information’ about Porter ‘and we passed that along’ to the White House.
February 1, 2018: DailyMail.com reports that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks is dating Porter, and that the relationship began when the ex-girlfriend discovered the two had been exchanging text messages.
February 6, 2018: DailyMail.com tells the White House that it plans to publish detailed reporting on Willoughby’s claims. Hours later the White House sends glowing statements about Porter from Chief of Staff John Kelly and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, some of which were crafted by Hicks.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah (left) and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (right)
Morning of February 7, 2018: DailyMail.com informs the White House that it will publish Holderness’s claims along with the photos of her black eye; the report is published. Sarah Sanders says
Afternoon of February 7, 2018: The White House continues to send the Sanders and Kelly statements to reporters.
February 7, 2018 at 1:20 p.m.: Sanders invites hand-picked reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the Axios news website to speak with Porter ‘off the record’ and hear his side of the story.
February 7, 2018 at 1:45 p.m.: Sanders tells reporters that Porter has submitted his resignation but would continue to work at the White House during a ‘transition,’ while also reading a statement from him claiming that ‘these outrageous allegations are simply false.’
Night of February 7, 2018: Kelly releases a new statement saying he condemns domestic violence. President Trump speaks with Porter about the allegations and accepts his resignation. Porter leaves the White House for the last time.
February 8, 2018: White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah briefs the press, saying Kelly was not made ‘fully aware’ of the nature of the allegations against Porter until some point on February 7 after DailyMail.com published the black-eye photos of Holderness.
FBI Director Christopher Wray
February 9, 2018: President Trump tells a small ‘pool’ of reporters that he was ‘surprised’ by the allegations, ‘but we certainly wish him well.’ Trump says it has been a ‘tough time for him.’ He doesn’t mention Willoughby or Holderness, and doesn’t render a condemnation about domestic violence. ‘Hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him,’ Trump says, adding that ‘he says he’s innocent.’
February 12, 2008: Sanders says during a White House press briefing that the White House ‘learned of the extent of the situation involving Rob Porter last Tuesday evening.’ She also says ‘the process for the background was ongoing, and the White House had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check.’
February 13, 2018: FBI Director Christopher Wray spells out during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing all the times the FBI contacted the White House about its Rob Porter background-check investigation.