Although even the Trumper cohosts of Outnumbered acknowledged the White House has not handled the Rob Porter scandal well, there was a moment of hope for cohost Harris Faulkner when guest Jason Chaffetz complained about the Obama White House also having people working without security clearances.
Chaffetz, a former Republican Congressman and the show’s #OneLuckyGuy, called for an accounting by the White House as to who has or has not completed a background security check. That prompted this exchange with cohost Harris Faulkner:
FAULKNER: Are you surprised that there are a number of people now, it’s being reported, that have not yet gotten their clearances?
CHAFFETZ: We had heard instances where perhaps people didn’t have security clearances in the Obama White House and we were furious about that. Why should anybody seeing top secret information, next to the president of the United States, be even allowed to be within arms reach of the president, let alone advising him and working as his staffer unless they pass the background check?
Chaffetz had not answered the question. But Faulkner was so delighted he had deflected to Obama, she tried to expound on it as she turned to Jessica Tarlov, the lone Democrat on the five-person panel.
FAULKNER: Jessica, he brings up such a great point. Because this isn’t the only White House to have dealt with having people on staff that have not gotten their security clearances. So what did the Obama administration do about it?
Unfortunately for Faulkner, Tarlov did not play along.
TARLOV: Oh, I’m not sure. I’m sure that this happens in every administration and there are delays but I am not sure that every administration has someone who beat two of their wives on staff and that the chief of staff knew about it months ago and let it slide and not only that, gave him more responsibility.
It wasn’t until after this discussion that Trump publicly heaped praise on Porter to reporters. It was also later today that White House speechwriter David Sorenson resigned in the wake of domestic abuse allegations.
But even without that information and regardless of Kelly’s role, there are lots of reasons to hold Trump responsible. For one thing, he boasted during the campaign that he’d hire “the best people.” For another, if he didn’t know that Porter, a very high-level staffer, didn’t have permanent security clearance (along with dozens of White House employees), he should have.
Another thing: Porter was at least the fourth Trump staffer or insider to be accused of assaulting women: Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowski and Andrew Puzder are also on that list. And, of course, Trump, himself, has been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct.
But Faulkner made Trump out as the victim. “What I want to get to is who’s looking out for the president?” she said. She thought the problem worse than a staff secretary having access to classified information. “This is someone who has access to our president who can be compromised based on his personal life.” She meant that Porter could be compromised, not Trump.
Watch Faulkner, et al. ignore the abusive elephant in the Oval Office below, from the February 9, 2018 Outnumbered.
Given the toxic history of the Foxies’ treatment of their female employees no one should be shocked that they defend a wife beater.
NOTE TO HARRIS
You never had any decency. Your salary is more important to you than your fellow employees’ suffering at the hands of sexual predators at Fox “News” Channel. You are a disgrace to your daughters.
EARTH TO HARRIS FAULKNER: The Obama Administration, as you Drumpfbots like to remind us, has not been in charge for the last 386 days . . . you SHOULD be asking what the Drumpf regime is gonna do about it — you know, exercise some of that “personal responsibility” you’re always bragging about . . .
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