Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Rob Porter Date:   2/14/2018 12:30:32 PM

The media is on a spree of falsehoods about this.  I believe the only reason this came to light was because his ex-wife came forward publicly to say he abused her, and then his first wife supported her assertions.  The WH has not done anything wrong in this whole thing, yet the media has blown it up to be some massive coverup.  The FBI does the background check and the personnel office makes the final determination of who gets a clearance or not.  He had an interim clearance, so there was no problem in him seeing classified information.  Most people who are not granted a clearance never know why because you aren't told why.  I really do not understand why his wife chose to go public - they are no longer married and as you point out, no formal arrests or charges were brought against him.  

One thing that I keep thinking - the reason that he would not be granted a clearance is a history of domestic abuse, which could make him a target for blackmail.  But if the whole thing is made public, doesn't that remove the concern that he could be blackmailed?  It's no longer a secret in his past.  

This is going to sound odd coming from a women, (and I absolutely do not condone any kind of violence against women or men), but when did this become a reason for unemployment, once you remove the blackmail concern.  Yes, he clearly has an anger issue and needs to be in treatment for that, but does it pervent him from performing the job he was hired to do.  Other than the optics (particularly bad in the current environment), I can see where an employer would be concerned if he were convicted of a charge, but in this case, there is no conviction.  

And then they condemned Trump for not directly addressing the women.  Well, he said he considered it serious, and no doubt Porter was asked to resign, but why would he say anything about the women?  Clearly the media is hyped about the "me too" movement.