Paul Ryan says White House "has work to do" to fix vetting system after Rob Porter
Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that there's a "breakdown in the vetting system" for White House jobs that needs to be addressed in the wake of Rob Porter resigning as President Trump's staff secretary over domestic violence allegations.
The Wisconsin Republican was asked at a leadership press conference if the White House should publicly condemn domestic violence after President Trump seemed to defend him over the weekend.
"Absolutely," Ryan said. "Clearly, we should all be condemning domestic violence."
"They clearly have work to do to fix their vetting system," he added.
This comes as the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, said that he is investigating interim security clearances and the way they were handled in Porter's case.
FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress on Tuesday that a background check of Porter was completed months before he resigned.
On immigration, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said that leadership is whipping for a bill, backed by conservatives, and proposed by Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, and Mike McCaul, R-Texas.
Ryan said that with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program tied up in courts, the March 5 deadline set by the Trump administration is "not as important," though he added that Congress operates better with a timeline.
"This place works better with deadlines," he said.
