The White House handled the news over staff secretary Rob Porter and accusations of domestic violence from his two ex-wives "extremely poorly," Sen. Jeff Flake said in an CNBC interview published Friday, but he does not know if that means chief of staff John Kelly should lose his job.
"I think it was handled extremely poorly," the Arizona Republican told CNBC's John Harwood for his "Speakeasy" podcast, in response to a question about whether he thinks the situation reflects the "competence and character" of the White House.
"Some of them have admitted that – others, not so much," Flake continued, "but it was handled poorly."
But it remains Trump's choice over whether Kelly, who initially defended Porter, will remain on the job, said Flake.
"I don't think he (Trump) was well served on this issue," Flake said. "On other issues, he's been better served. I've had disagreements with the chief of staff."
He also said Kelly is a man in a "tough job."
"Anybody who has a chief of staff job in this White House has got his work cut out for him, or her work cut out for her," said Flake.
Porter officially resigned earlier this month following the claims made by his former spouses, and it was also revealed that he had been working without a security clearance. Flake told Harwood that issue will pose problems in the long term for the Trump White House.
"There's a problem long term if we have dozens of people acting on interim security clearances, viewing classified material, handling classified material, and getting those briefings," said Flake.
"It's not a good situation. I've already written to the administration, asking for answers on a few things."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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