WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump thrust himself into the national debate over sexual misconduct, asserting on Saturday that "a mere allegation" could destroy the lives of those accused, as his own White House was engulfed by claims of abusive behavior.
Trump, in a morning Twitter post, appeared to be defending two of his aides who resigned last week after facing claims of domestic violence.
"Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation," he wrote. "Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused -- life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?"
The statement echoed Trump's response to allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse made over decades against male friends, colleagues and himself.
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At a time when charges of sexual harassment and abuse are bringing down famous and powerful men from Hollywood to Washington, Trump's defiant stance put him at odds with much of the country and served as a stark reminder of his own history with women.
It also drew an inflamed reaction, as people took to social media to note that Trump used similar arguments to defend Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican candidate who lost his bid for a Senate seat after being accused of child predation, and Bill O'Reilly, the disgraced TV personality whose former employer, Fox News, paid tens of millions of dollars to settle sexual harassment claims.
Trump, critics noted, has not let due process prevent him from rushing to judgment in other cases. He has promoted conspiracy theories, like those of the birther movement, whipped up his supporters at campaign rallies with chants of "lock her up" about Hillary Clinton, and demanded the death penalty for five young black and Hispanic men wrongly accused of assaulting and raping a white woman in Central Park.
His apparent defense of his two aides -- Rob Porter, the staff secretary, and David Sorensen, a speechwriter -- ran counter to the White House's portrayal of its response to the accusations of emotional and physical abuse leveled against them. Administration officials maintained that they acted decisively in each case.
But it was in keeping with the White House's initially defensive reaction to the charges against Porter -- a trail of conflicting statements that has left the West Wing with officials pointing fingers at one another.
The White House chief of staff, John Kelly, and the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, staunchly defended Porter initially. Sanders said the president had "full confidence" in his performance while Kelly described him as "a man of true integrity and honor."
Trump's call for due process does reflect a fear shared by others that the #MeToo movement has gained so much momentum that in some cases, men accused of misconduct are being judged too quickly or punished too severely for sexual behavior that falls into a gray area.
Yet the allegations against Porter and Sorensen were long-standing, well-documented and, at least in Porter's case, known to the White House for months, even as he held one of the West Wing's most sensitive positions, channeling paperwork to the president.
One of Porter's former wives, Jennifer Willoughby, obtained a restraining order against him, while the other, Colbie Holderness, presented a photograph of herself with a black eye, which she said came from being hit by Porter while the couple was on vacation in Italy.
The FBI informed the White House of these charges, which held up Porter's application for a permanent security clearance. Kelly has told his staff he ordered Porter to be fired 40 minutes after learning of the charges, an assertion that other officials disputed.
In the case of Sorensen, his former wife, Jessica Corbett, told FBI agents conducting a background check on her husband that he had run over her foot while driving a car and extinguished a cigarette on her hand during a turbulent 2½-year marriage.
Trump praised Porter, telling reporters on Friday, "He did a very good job when he was in the White House, and we wish him well." The president made no mention of the women whom Porter is said to have abused -- a point several of the president's critics noted.
"Look again at the photos of the face of Porter's ex-wife after he assaulted her," Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said on Twitter. "Victims deserve due process as well."
A Section on 02/11/2018