Another Man Close To The President Quitting His Job Under The Weight Of Domestic Abuse Claims; President Said No To Letting The Public See A Congressional Memo That Democrats Say Answers A Republican Memo
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in new York. Great to have you with us. President Trump's personnel problem that blew up in the middle of the week didn't get better. Two people who worked close to the oval office suddenly quit their jobs. staff secretary and a speechwriter. Both men accused of violent behavior and domestic abuse. Both accusations coming from their ex-wives and both of these staffers are now out. The President coming to their defense earlier today. CNN Ryan Nobles is at the White House with more on that - Ryan.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana. This is another example of the White House being forced to deal with a crisis. One that they didn't seem to expect and also did not seem prepared to handle. And so far the President is being rather defiant in response to these accusations against two of his now former staffers. The latest being David Sorensen, a speechwriter who actually approached the White House. Said that he knew these allegations were in his past and he offered his resignation and what he said was to avoid being a distraction to the administration. He also put out a lengthy statement where he forcefully denied the accusations against him and even claimed that he himself was the victim of domestic violence. But listen to what the President wrote this morning on twitter essentially talking about both of these gentlemen. He said quote "people's lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true. Some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovering from someone falsely accused. Life and career gone. Is there no such thing any longer as due process. And it is interesting that in this case the President is talking about due process because when he goes on the attack rarely does he concern himself with due process. Of course, this is the man that during his campaign led the chant lock her up as it relates to Hillary Clinton. But this is not the only issue that the White House is dealing with this weekend. They are also dealing with the fallout from their decision not to release the Democratic memo that was in response to the Republican memo that had to do with the investigations and the concern about the FISA court. And the President tweeting a response about that this morning, pushing back on some of the criticism that the move to not allow the memo was political in nature. The President saying quote "the Democrats sent a very political and long response memo, which they knew because of sources and methods and more would have to be heavily redacted whereupon they would blame the White House for a lack of transparency. We told them to re-do and send back in proper form. Now of course Democrats are concerned there is a bit of a hypocrisy in this statement by the President. He released that Republican memo against the recommendations of the department of justice and the FBI. In this case he is leaning heavily on their recommendations in deciding not to allow it. Now the White House has said they are inclined to release the memo, but there will be some redactions. Democrats are concerned those redactions will be politically motivated as opposed to protecting those sources and methods. We will have to see what the response is if and when that memo comes out possibly as early as next week -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: We will be watching. Ryan Nobles at the White House. Thank you. Now, the President's defense of Porter on twitter echoed what he said yesterday about his former aid in the oval office.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was very sad when we heard about it and certainly he is also very sad now. He also, as you probably know, he says he is innocent and I think you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he is innocent. So you will have to talk to him about that. We but absolutely wish him well.</s>CABRERA: It might be a little jarring to hear the President defend someone accused of beating two of his ex-wives, but it is not entirely surprising. The President has a track record of men accused of abuse or harassment. For example, listen to what he said about his former campaign manager when he was accused of grabbing a female reporter's arm so hard he left bruises.</s>TRUMP: He is a good person with a wonderful family. Four beautiful kids and they are destroying that man over nothing. You take a look at that tape and she's grabbing me. Now maybe I should press charges against her. She is not supposed to be grabbing me.</s>CABRERA: Now, here is what he said about former FOX News chief Roger Aisles after he was accused of sexual harassment.</s>TRUMP: I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he's helped them.</s>CABRERA: We are not done yet. The President also defended former FOX News personality Bill O'Reilly when he was accused of sexual harassment.</s>TRUMP: He's a person I know well. He is a good person. I think he may -- you know, I think he shouldn't have settled. I don't think Bill would do anything wrong.</s>CABRERA: It doesn't end there. The President also defended and endorsed Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore after he was accused of inappropriate behavior with teenage girls, including child molestation.</s>TRUMP: If you look at what is really going on and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also.</s>CABRERA: And when then candidate Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault, here's what he said about his own accusers.</s>TRUMP: They just come out. Some are doing it through probably a little fame. They get some free fame. It is a total set-up. People that are willing to say, I was with Donald Trump in 1980. I was sitting with him on an airplane, and he went after me on the plane. Yes, I'm going to go after you. Believe me. She would not be my first choice. That I can tell you.</s>CABRERA: Joining us now CNN political analyst and Republican strategist Alice Stewart and "Washington Post" columnist Catherine Rampell. So Alice, what is the first word that comes to your mind when you hear those sound bites I just played?</s>ALICE STEWART, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Disgusting comes to mind. Disturbing also comes to mind. Look, I think we are not surprised that the President, being loyal to friends and people that are loyal to him that he said that Rob Porter is innocent and stood by him. That's fine if that's what he wants to do, but as President of the United States he should have followed that up with, however, domestic violence is abhorrent and there is no place for it in our society. But as you just outlined, Ana, it is a pattern. Whether he is talking about friends or colleagues or others in public service, he has -- they have always tried to down play these kind of allegations, whether we are talking about domestic violence or sexual harassment. They down play it. They defend the men and they try and discredit the women. And that is really, really troubling. And in this case, what is even more troubling is when you have someone that has such a personal abhorrent behavior, that should be disqualifying for public office and public service. And I think we need to really take a close look at the standard that's being set here and make sure that we really speak out against domestic violence.</s>CABRERA: Catherine, again, the question why. Why is the President's first instinct to believe the men and not the women?</s>CATHERINE RAMPELL, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Presumably projection. You know, he has to protect his own reputation. And if he blends any sense of credibility, greater credibility to these women accusers, these female accusers of other alleged predators of various strikes, then maybe people will start to believe increasingly the women who have accused him. I just can't think of any other reason. And perhaps, you know, maybe he just doesn't see women in general as credible. He has made lots of misogynistic comments about women in general. So maybe that transfers to his likelihood to believe women when they are accusing his friends and associates as well.</s>CABRERA: He was quick to throw Harvey Weinstein under the bus when the accusations get him came out. And yet Alice, the other thing that stood out about his tweet today was the President asking if due process still exists. This is coming from the same person who accused Ted Cruz's father of assassinating JFK, not to mention some leading the chants of lock her up during the campaign as Ryan Nobles mentioned. How do you square it?</s>STEWART: I think look. He looks at due process with regard to people that he aligns himself with and who he likes. And the sad reality is that domestic violence is not partisan. It is nongender. It does not race color, creep (ph), sex or national origin. This is a true problem. And we need to look at it that way. And I think we need to listen more to the people who are victims of domestic violence than those who are accused of it and not just by one ex-wife but by two and someone else. I think we need to take a step back and give these women a voice. Let them not be afraid to come out and speak and let them know that we are really taking a serious look at this. I'm encouraged by vice President Pence, who has said when he was over at the Olympics that there is no place for domestic violence and he is committed to taking a closer look at this when he comes back. I hope this is a time that we make some changes with regard to this.</s>CABRERA: Republican congressman Charlie Dent is one of the few Republicans. You mentioned Mike Pence as well, who is speaking out about the Porter abuse controversy. Let's listen to what he told our colleague, Fredricka Whitfield, today.</s>REP. CHARLIE DENT (R), PENNSYLVANIA: There has to be a zero tolerance toward that type of domestic violence that is being discussed in these two situations. That's very clear. And of course we should be very sympathetic and empathetic to the victims, to the women who have been violated here, subjective of violence. That said, I think it is important for the President to acknowledge the victims.</s>CABRERA: So now we have 12 Democrat senators who have written the White House asking for more information about Porter. Whether he disclosed these allegations. Catherine, Alice hit on this earlier. Are you surprised that there aren't more Republicans, the party of family values, also a party that's struggling with female voters that aren't speaking out to rebuke this.</s>RAMPELL: You know, I am. And I'm not. On the one hand, this should not be a partisan issue. This should be something that everyone could make even the, you know, most bland of statements just saying, look, domestic violence is bad. It will not be tolerated. But President Trump could not do that. Why would we expect the people that line themselves up behind President Trump to come out and condemn this kind of behavior. Because there will be guilt by association essentially.</s>CABRERA: So what benefit is it for them to stay silent?</s>RAMPELL: I think they don't want to be seen on the side of the people that are bad. And if they acknowledge that there are people who are bad on their side, then they are tainted. So that's why you didn't see the evangelical community coming out against Trump during the election event though we saw more than a dozen women accusing him of various forms ok sexual harassment and sexual assault. That's why you didn't see the evangelical community. And, you know, the family values types coming out against Trump when he has made lots of other comments about women, when he has made lots of other sort of antifamily comments. You know, I think it's not entirety surprising. Our politics are so tribalistic right now that it is a little bit hard I think for people on either side to be able to consistently hold to whatever principals they espouse if those principals occasionally go against the people on their team.</s>CABRERA: Or to look inside themselves. Alice, I want to ask you about the President's decision to block the release of the Democrats memo rebutting alleged surveillance abuses at the FBI. President Trump saying he is just heating the advise of the FBI and the DOJ by not releasing this memo and its current form. But he didn't do the same with the Republican memo. Is this a double standard?</s>STEWART: Look, I think -- look, clearly it was, in my view, it is better to get more information out there and more transparency the better. And we all knew he was going to put out the Republican memo. With this one I think we also have to consider this was certainly a more lengthy memo. We have to consider the possibility that Democrats put some information in this memo that was potentially confidential knowing that this would cause the President to refuse to declassify the memo and have it released and that would give them an opportunity to say, look, he's not putting the same standard on us. If there is some information that's classified in there, hopefully they redact only the classified information. And I'm looking forward to a time when they do release it. I do take the President in his word when he says he will get it out. Republicans on the House intel committee want it released. The only thing we need to do is get out the classified information and put it out fully. I think it is important to have a response from the Republicans and Democrats. Ideally it would be at the same time, but better late on never.</s>CABRERA: Right. You do bring up the point about the potential for national security method sources. But Republican congressman Justin Amash tweeted that he looked at this memo and he said it doesn't endanger national security, Catherine.</s>RAMPELL: Yes. There was bipartisan support for releasing this. It is bizarre that President Trump suddenly shows deference supposedly to the FBI and the national intelligence community when it comes to the case of releasing a memo that was authored by Democrats. No so much when it was related to releasing a memo authored by a Republican.</s>CABRERA: So how do you see the Democrats responding now? Because aren't they just giving more fuel to the fire to the attention of these memos, even the Republican memo which they say is misleading?</s>RAMPELL: Well, potentially. I think on the other hand, are you familiar with</s>CABRERA: Well, I appreciate both of you ladies. Alice Stewart and Catherine Rampell, thank you both.</s>STEWART: Thanks so much.</s>RAMPELL: Thank you.</s>CABRERA: And still ahead, were U.S. spied fooled by a Russian selling secrets? A new report claims just that. You will hear from the author of that report ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.