President Donald Trump was "saddened" by the domestic-abuse allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter — and he remained confident of Chief of Staff John Kelly despite the debacle, White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Thursday.
"He was surprised," Shah told reporters at the daily briefing, noting that Trump first learned of the situation in news reports Tuesday.
"We did not see what the allegations have brought forward — and, so, he was surprised by it, disheartened by it.
"He was saddened by it," Shah added. "Saddened for all the individuals involved.
"We take violations against women and these allegations very seriously," he said.
Porter, 40, resigned Wednesday after two former wives alleged domestic abuse to The Daily Mail — including one published Wednesday that included a photograph of his first ex-wife with a black eye.
Porter, a former aide to Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, denied the allegations.
Kelly initially praised Porter, along with other White House staffers, but later walked back the comments after the first former wife came forward and the photograph was published.
News reports later Wednesday also disclosed that Kelly had known about the Porter accusations for several months.
The White House accepted Porter's resignation, Shah said, adding that President Trump "has confidence in his chief of staff, counsel and communications" staffs who were involved in the earlier response to the reports.
Porter was operating with an interim security clearance in the White House while the abuse allegations, and his denials, were being investigated by the FBI, Shah said.
He also acknowledged that "we all could have done better" in handling the Porter situation.
"It's fair to say that we all could have done better over the last few hours or last few days in dealing with this situation," Shah told reporters.
"But this is a Rob Porter that I and many others have dealt with," he added. "Emerging reports were not reflective of the individual we had come to know.
"A lot of individuals were involved with the White House response to this — and a lot of us could have done better."
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