WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan says the government’s vetting of its employees is broken if an accused wife beater is allowed to assume a high-level presidential job.
Ryan was asked Wednesday about whether the White House should condemn domestic violence, which President Donald Trump has refused to do in the wake of allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter.
He told reporters “Come on, clearly we all should be condemning domestic violence.” He added that “if a person who commits domestic violence gets in the government then there’s a breakdown in the system.” Such a breakdown, Ryan said, needs to be “addressed.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told CNN on Wednesday that the panel is launching an investigation.
Porter has denied the allegations.