White House Let Rob Porter Keep Job Even After Receiving Final FBI Report

According to Mr. Wray, the F.B.I. updated the White House three times in 2017 — in March, July and November — about Mr. Porter’s background check as it progressed. Mr. Wray did not disclose the information that was given to the White House at those times, but according to two people briefed on the matter, the F.B.I. first provided the White House in July with a rundown of the spousal abuse allegations the bureau had uncovered against Mr. Porter.

In November, the F.B.I. provided the White House with additional information about the allegations.

Ms. Sanders insisted Tuesday that senior West Wing officials had not learned about the allegations against Mr. Porter until they surfaced in The Daily Mail because the F.B.I. gave the information to the White House Personnel Security Office, which handles security clearances. The office is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House and is overseen by Joe Hagin, the deputy chief of staff.

Ms. Sanders said that the security office — which she repeatedly noted was staffed by “career officials,” who would not have been appointed by Mr. Trump — had not yet made a final determination on whether Mr. Porter should receive his security clearance at the time of The Mail’s article.

Still, pressed on whether senior officials — including John F. Kelly, the chief of staff; Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel; and Mr. Hagin — could have been unaware as far back as last summer that such a significant issue had been raised about one of the president’s closest aides, she conceded she could not be certain.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Ms. Sanders said. “I can’t say with 100 percent certainty.”

According to the two people briefed on the matter, the White House security office reviewed the allegations about Mr. Porter in July and saw that the F.B.I. had interviewed Mr. Porter’s two former wives but not Mr. Porter himself. The office asked the F.B.I. to go back and do so, said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

In November, the F.B.I. provided another report to the security office, the two people said, adding that at that point, a final review began to determine whether to grant Mr. Porter a security clearance. As part of that review, three officials in the personnel office, including its head, were supposed to come to their own conclusions about whether to grant the clearance, the people said.

By the time The Mail published its article last week, only one of those officials had made a determination, the two people said, although it is not clear what the official had concluded.

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In late November last year, a distraught girlfriend of Mr. Porter’s contacted Mr. McGahn and told him Mr. Porter had been unfaithful to her by dating Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, and had anger problems, according to several people familiar with the discussion. Mr. McGahn, who knew Mr. Porter’s girlfriend, at that point suggested to Mr. Porter he should consider leaving the White House, the people said. But Mr. McGahn did not follow up on the matter.

One former White House official, Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 10 days last year as White House communications director before being removed by Mr. Kelly, weighed in on Tuesday on Mr. Wray’s testimony. Mr. Scaramucci posted on Twitter that Mr. Kelly “almost certainly knew about credible allegations of domestic abuse against Rob Porter at least 6 months ago – then recently forced others to lie about that timeline.”

“Inexcusable,” Mr. Scaramucci added. “Kelly must resign.”

Ms. Sanders said Mr. Trump maintained confidence in Mr. Kelly, who told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that he had no regrets about how Mr. Porter’s case was handled, adding that “it was all done right.”

Mr. Porter, who as staff secretary handled all of the documents that made their way to the president, had in the weeks before the allegations been seeking an expanded portfolio in the West Wing, where experienced aides who can bring order to a chaotic operation are in short supply.

Mr. Trump’s aides initially said they had no inkling of the accusations against Mr. Porter until the reports in The Mail, and said they acted swiftly to terminate him when they discovered them. In fact, the White House spent the first hours after learning of the accusations — including the publication of photographs of one of Mr. Porter’s former wives with a black eye she said he had given her — defending Mr. Porter against the allegations and insisting that he was not being dismissed.

Even after Mr. Kelly changed his stance, calling the allegations vile and orchestrating Mr. Porter’s swift departure, the president has stuck up for Mr. Porter publicly, telling reporters that the situation had been “tough” and “sad” for Mr. Porter. The president insisted that Mr. Porter had denied the accusations, and wished him a successful career. On Tuesday, asked by reporters at a White House event with sheriffs if he had a message for victims of abuse, Mr. Trump declined to answer.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers in both parties criticized how the White House had handled the episode.

“A lot of us are concerned about what has come to light in terms of these background checks — how long they take, how long somebody can be in an interim status and still have access to classified material,” said Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. He said the scandal had exacerbated a generational divide that was already plaguing the party.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Trump, who dispatched Ms. Sanders yesterday to denounce domestic violence but has not addressed the matter himself, had missed an opportunity.

“I haven’t heard the president say something directly about how bad domestic abuse is,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “You know, to have a spokesperson get out and say something is not good enough.”

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Three Milwaukee Jail Officers Charged in Dehydration Death

The announcement on Monday of charges against Major Evans and two others — Lt. Kashka Meadors and James Ramsey-Guy, a correctional officer — came more than nine months after that inquest, a relatively rare court proceeding in which jurors review evidence relating to a death and decide whether to recommend charges. The four other jail employees who were faulted by jurors at the inquest are not expected to face charges, Mr. Chisholm said, but the investigation was continuing.

Mr. Thomas was arrested in April 2016 and accused of shooting a man and later firing a gun inside a hotel and casino, according to local news reports. A federal lawsuit filed by Mr. Thomas’s estate said he had bipolar disorder and had been prescribed medication by a psychiatrist.

Once he was at the jail in downtown Milwaukee, prosecutors said, Mr. Thomas flooded his cell by stuffing his mattress cover into the toilet. The charging documents said that when Mr. Thomas was moved to another cell, Lieutenant Meadors told Mr. Ramsey-Guy to turn off the water supply to that cell. For the next week, Mr. Thomas did not leave his cell, and was not given any water.

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“He was literally punished for the manifestations of his mental illness,” said Erik Heipt, a lawyer for Mr. Thomas’s estate who has filed a federal lawsuit against Milwaukee County and jail officials. “He was not in his right mind. You don’t take someone like that and then punish them by turning off their water.”

After Mr. Thomas’s death, prosecutors said, Major Evans had a guard watch a week’s worth of security video footage of Mr. Thomas’s cell, which showed that the water had never been turned back on. Prosecutors said she did not take steps to preserve that video, and it was eventually recorded over and deleted.

Major Evans was charged with obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor, and misconduct in office, a felony. Mr. Ramsey-Guy and Lieutenant Meadors were each charged with felony neglect of a resident of a penal facility, which can carry more than three years in prison.

Court records did not list lawyers for Major Evans or Mr. Ramsey-Guy as of Monday afternoon. Both defendants — as well as Lieutenant Meadors — were suspended with pay on Monday by Richard Schmidt, the acting sheriff of Milwaukee County.

Ben Van Severen, a lawyer for Lieutenant Meadors, said his client had worked at the jail for more than 17 years and intended to plead not guilty.

“We were very surprised to see the charges,” said Mr. Van Severen, adding that “we would just caution against a rush to judgment.”

Sheriff Schmidt said on Monday that he was “very confident” the jail had been “transformed” by new leaders since he succeeded David A. Clarke Jr. as sheriff last year. Mr. Clarke’s tough-on-crime approach was lauded by President Trump and other conservatives, but critics said he led a troubled department and a dangerous jail. Four inmates died at the Milwaukee County Jail in 2016, and a Wisconsin congresswoman called for a federal investigation of the facility.

Asked on Monday whether Mr. Clarke, who was not charged, had been investigated in connection with Mr. Thomas’s death, Mr. Chisholm said he believed his office had charged the people who were most culpable.

Sheriff Schmidt said the accusations against his employees were “horrific” and that “my heart bleeds” for Mr. Thomas’s family.

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Sheriff Schmidt said a decision on departmental discipline for the officers could be made as soon as Friday. “This is serious stuff,” he said. “I care.”

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