A second White House official has resigned following a media investigation into allegations of domestic violence. As discussed yesterday the disconnect between Rod Porter claiming that the allegations were false but his subsequent failure to seek a legal remedy or even threaten a defamation action. David Sorensen, a speechwriter for President Trump, has raised a possible defamation action against his wife in denying the accusations. Indeed, he alleges that she was the abuser — creating a possibility of libel actions on both sides (much like the Roy Moore situation). President Donald Trump has responded to the two cases by decrying the impact of “mere allegations” in “shattering lives.”
White House spokesman Raj Shah said that, when White House learned of the allegations being pursued by The Washington Post, “We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegation and he resigned today.”
Sorensen’s ex-wife, Jessica Corbett, alleged that he abused her throughout their two year marriage, including running over her foot with a car, shoving her, grabbing her arm, and putting a cigarette on her hand.
He says that she was the abuser and has announced that he is “considering legal options to address her defamation.” With the conflicting allegations, both could sue for defamation since they are alleging criminal conduct by their former spouses as well as lying about these incidents.
Sorensen was a speechwriter on Trump’s environmental quality council.
More Daily Tatler filler.
Look it’s not enough to conclude guilt just because a spouse won’t sue his ex for defamation. The defamer may be a financial turnip and the expense of the suit just not practical. She may be the mother of his children and he doesn’t want to put the kids through the publicity, animosity, turmoil and side picking. He may have wrongdoing on the victim that he doesn’t want aired since a defamation suit puts the plaintiff’s character on trial, not the defendant’s.
There are as many reasons not to sue as to sue and ascribing guilt because one side won’t sue is just a red herring. Enough already.
Amen! And here is one more reason – – -if you are in politics or public life, you don’t necessarily gain anything even if you do win your suit. Because the “other side” is not going to believe that it was anything except legal shenanigans that got you the win. Plus, your name has been associated with whatever evil act you supposedly did for the length of the suit.
Heck, you have people who still believe 9-11 was an inside job, the moon landings are fake, the Earth is flat/6,000 years old, and that Hillary dindu nuffin.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
According to Turley, the burden of proof is now: “If he doesn’t sue – it must be true!”.
Johnny Cochranesque.
Hilarious! Best Quip of the Year!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Two additional points:
First of all, the statements in question (by both of Porter’s ex-wives) were initially made either to the Arlington County(Virginia) Police or to the FBI. In Virginia, police reports are privileged against defamation claims; I don’t know where the statements were made to the FBI, but a number of other states have similar doctrines relating to statements to law enforcement. The privilege is qualified, but it does set a higher bar for a defamation suit.
Second, this all became public just a few days ago; while they may have spoken privately to some of their friends (and it is not clear whether Porter even knew of those statements), the wives went on television for interviews only last week, as I understand it. I think it is expecting a bit too much to think that a defamation complaint would be filed by now.
I don’t know what’s going on here, but I expect liberals to act this way. I think this terrible disease is starting to spread into coservative neighborhood s.
It looks like the ex-wife here is a real piece of work!
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/sorensen-engagement.jpg
Read this, and the 12 page rebuttal to the crazy ex-wife’s claims! There are pictures of his injuries, to boot!
https://heavy.com/news/2018/02/david-sorensen-exwife-jessica-corbett/
Doing Domestic Relations work, I tend to take a jaded view of most ex-wive’s claims because half the time at least, they are simply lying their a$$e$ off for revenge and other reasons.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Wow. Those are serious allegations. If Corbett really did purposely defame her husband for revenge, I hope he sues her into the stone age.
However, this incident needs a thorough investigation, which is going to take a while. I am glad he stepped down and is defending himself.
The facts need to come out. As in the other case with the photo of the black eye and the protective order, any evidence he has is going to be be very helpful.
The two sides to the story are exactly why I am really hesitant to judge until we have all the facts. I have been burned believing media reports before.
This is the best case I have seen in a while for why we should not immediately give credit to ex-wives and ex-girlfriend’s stories. From my experience, most domestic violence comes from women, as does most verbal and emotional abuse.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Repeal the 19th amendment. Restore the American restricted-vote republic.
That’s a bit progressive of you George.
Like the Ten Commandments, the Preamble, Constitution and Bill of Rights were written to stand, for good reason, in perpetuity.
Look around you.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
Stay thirsty, my friend!
I’ll be interested in your response to my other comment.
“…supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote…”
_______________________________________________________
republic – “A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.”
“In the election of 1789, the number of people allowed to vote was minuscule. Delaware had votes cast by 3% of the population. Georgia 5%, New York 3% and Rhode Island 0.7%.”
By design of the Founders, in 1789, only Americans, men who came from Europe, who owned land had the ability to vote in most states. Voters must have been “vested” in America.
Coherence and temperance prevailed.
Homogeneity was a virtue.
I can’t say I fully agree with you this time George. I think you are cherry-picking history in an attempt to ease the blow to your credibility inflicted by a poorly chosen statement. Alow me to ask: do you support direct election of Senators? You are aware voters didn’t always directly elect Senators?
I would be delighted to alow you to ask about indirect election of Senators. It’s a variation on a theme. The theme being representative government as opposed to a monarchy. The direct election of Senators is not existentially important when the entire government is severely limited by the Constitution. The executive and legislative branches were sufficiently limited by the founding documents making the method of election a moot point, from the perspective of an actual American (i.e. a conservative). The American Founders adopted the Constitution in 1789 entirely bereft of any aspect of a welfare state. There was no Jeffersoncare or any other form of “free stuff”, (or central planning or social engineering) because the Founders had recently provided Congress with the power to tax SOLELY for “general Welfare” as they omitted and, thereby, excluded the power to tax for individual welfare. No matter how the nation elected Senators, those Senators could not confiscate the wealth of Americans in order to redistribute it to parasites. Government was infinitesimally smaller, less intrusive and less relevant – by design. Can you follow that? Government didn’t matter that much; government was designed not to matter that much. They couldn’t have given any form of “free stuff” or “Affirmative Action Privilege” to anyone even if they wanted to – no matter who was elected or how. No welfare, food stamps, affirmative action, quotas, forced busing, WIC, social services, Obamacare, Social Security, HAMP, Medicaid, HARP, Medicare, utility subsidies, etc., etc., etc.
The destruction of American freedom, free enterprise and free markets was begun by the tyrannical despot, “Crazy Abe” Lincoln” who could not grasp the importance of allowing slavery to be evolved out of existence by market forces such as advocacy, boycotts and divestiture. Slavery had existed for, what, 150 years, what’s a few more during a public campaign to boycott and eliminate investment in cotton. And, of course, “Crazy Abe” failed to enforce the Nationalization Act of 1802 which required citizens to be “…free white person(s)…” requiring the immediate deportation (compassionate repatriation) of freed slaves because their legal status changed from “property” to “illegal alien” upon the issuance of the unconstitutional Emancipation Proclamation.
It’s been downhill ever since.
I don’t have credibility. I don’t cherry-pick. I don’t have a poorly chosen statement. I have the Constitution. I read the Constitution. I quote the Constitution. The central planning, redistribution of wealth and social engineering that are forcibly imposed on America today are nowhere to be found in the Constitution and have no relationship to the Constitution.
Someone should sue her for wearing that dress. . .zigzags running around her zaftig figure, with her fat, white polkas hanging out. Where do I go to file suit for an attack on my eyesight?
That looks like a bad bad photo shop.
Wow – Sorensen tells quite a story. Pictures, and texts, and drama, oh my!
Especially telling is that HER own ‘good friend’ is sympathetic to the husband – conceding the wife is indeed crazy – both when she’s drunk and when she’s sober.
I hope both these men fight this and start a #hetoo campaign. #metoo is dead.
As I’ve said before – this gutter-media nonsense has got to stop……… or be stopped.
@realDonaldTrump
“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. 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?”
Good one
On Sat, Feb 10, 2018 at 9:42 AM, JONATHAN TURLEY wrote:
> jonathanturley posted: “A second White House official has resigned > following a media investigation into allegations of domestic violence. As > discussed yesterday the disconnect between Rod Porter claiming that the > allegations were false but his subsequent failure to seek a legal” >
Unlike Obama, Trump is running a transparent administration. Make no mistake, when these allegations emerged these staffers were talked to. Their choices were simple: resign or be fired in a very public way. There were no Hillary-esque reassignments. There were no fake email accounts used to try and distort the identity of the perpetrators. Unlike previous administrations, Trump is insisting that staff perform and uphold standards.
Salem Witch Trials aka Feminist Revenge Tactic Smear campaign. I like how liberals assail the righteous Joe McCarthy, attack his campaign against the real communist subversion going on in this country, and yet the liberals are doing the very same thing for their feminazis–removing men they don’t like because of past pecadillos.
WOW. The Hypocrisy is an overwhelming stench. But liberals don’t care about hypocrisy; they’re immune to it; blind to it. Literally, their sh*t don’t stink. The Double Standard. Wow, Joe McCarthy should’ve charged all those communist agents with spousal abuse—he would’ve been more successful !
I wonder if, when they hire people, they need to send investigators to administer days long interrogations and lie detector tests to everyone the applicant has ever dated or been married to.
Seriously.
It can be tricky to prove verbal abuse, since that often happens in private behind closed doors. Hopefully one of them can prove their story.
It is absolutely true that a woman can be an abuser. Years ago I knew someone who couldn’t be alone for weeks. He had to be with someone, and sleep over at friend’s houses, because his ex was threatening to throw herself through a window and blame him for it. He was terrified that she was going to frame him for abuse, and was utterly helpless to do anything about it other than have an alibi 24/7.
That doesn’t mean that the woman in this case is lying. I am merely pointing out that gender has nothing to do with honesty.
May the truth come out.
Jon seems concerned about Trumo staffers declaring their innocence but not proceeding with a defamation lawsuit. No need for such litigation because Trump’s disciples won’t believe the accusers, no matter how much documentary proof there is, and the rest of us don’t believe his staffers or his spokesperson.
You refused to believe Billy Blythe’s accusers to Natacha which proves you are a Russian trollbot.
andrewworkshop, would you please clarify your sentence? Are you referring to Bill Clinton and his accusers? Or are you referring to Bill Clinton’s biological father?
When do we get to read the item about the various FBI and DOJ folks that have resigned in the past week as we learn more about FISA abuses?
I think the last count it was up to 9 or 10 total that we know about who have resigned, been fired, or suddenly “retired”, I think.
And, Sharyl’s tweet today is exactly correct:
Retweeted Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson):
Panic makes people sloppy. Coordinated cover stories always leave holes. Tick tock.
There are only two possibilities. The White House didn’t know or didn’t care? In each case, the White House knew. It’s reported there are dozens of people that the FBI has told the White House they will be unable to give full clearance and that Kelly was planning to get rid of them except for the obvious double-standard with Jared who he can’t remove. Watch other names of people without clearances start trickling out.
They didn’t know or didn’t care. They knew!
Someone earlier argued about whether there’s enough evidence to find them guilty in a court of law? That’s not the standard. It’s whether they’re potentially blackmailable? Someone holding the proof that could end their career (or even threaten proof that didn’t exist) suddenly has great sway over that government official. Why even do background checks if a denial is sufficient to cancel out whatever is found?
This topic speaks very favorably of President Trump. Staffers behaved inappropriately so now they are no longer White House staffers. Contrast with HIllary’s staffer that serially sexually assaulted women. Hillary fired the accusers and reassigned the accused.
Let me get this straight. Trump’s staffers were known in some cases over a year ago to have problems with getting security clearances and they did nothing. Kelly was told in Sept., and Nov. about the problems, and did nothing. He was recently told that the FBI would recommend against clearances for several staffers, and he did nothing. The White House Counsel, Don McGahn was told separately… and did nothing. An article comes out in a British newspaper and the immediate response, written by someone dating one of two men who recently resigned because of the now known information, stood by Porter emphatically with no signs that any action would be taken. Then a picture came out, and he had to go. Trump is still tweeting about how unfair the system is to the accused, he having been accused by 19 women himself. This is how the system is supposed to work?
“There are only two possibilities. The White House didn’t know or didn’t care? In each case, the White House knew.”
***************************
Let’s see: The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor while their ambassadors were negotiating at the White House. Thus the ambassadors either didn’t know or didn’t care. Thus they knew. In reality though, they didn’t know and sure as Hell would have cared to know for obvious reasons.
Interesting logic omitting the stated proposition that sinks the premise. Maybe they didn’t know or maybe they didn’t care to know but in each case they DIDN’T know.
We already know that the FBI knew and told someone in the White House; first that there was a problem and later that several people would be denied clearance. We also know that Don McGhan the White House Counsel was told by a third woman about the incidents involving Porter.
I could easily believe that Trump didn’t know. That his people wanted him to have plausible deniability or because they didn’t trust him to keep his mouth shut (or Tweeting fingers). There’s no way Kelly didn’t know and his own staff ran out of a meeting leaking that he wants them to back him up on his lies. Yes, they knew, and didn’t care!
Somebody in the White House is giving lessons on how to respond to allegations. The Master in Chief of all refutations, bar none, teaches his people to first deny everything, then flip it-accuse the accuser. However if only the Master in Chief would take the next step and resign as did his minion, America would be the better for it.
Or, perhaps this resigning of minions, regardless of their guilt, is the Master in Chief’s way to say, “See, I don’t stand for this, therefore I am first and foremost innocent, unlike all the rest.” Or, perhaps, just as per usual, it pulls the focus away from this buffoon of a President and places it on someone else. Regardless, send us more sacrificial lambs. Send us a parade of sacrificial lambs.
I hear the President is getting fitted for a ‘salute’ arm brace for his big event.
Breaking news: Bus driver & husband Ralph Kramden & is sending wife Alice to the moon.
What’s going on here? The Enquirer? The Globe? Where we are MORE interested in people’s personal lives that have NO bearing on Government .
Elsewhere, the website, anonymous conservative, reports that: “An attorney selected to advise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court says he might have recommended against surveilling former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. But he was never asked for an opinion.
John Cline was one of the first people designated by the shadowy court’s judges as eligible to advise them on privacy and other intelligence collection issues, but he was not consulted on the Page case — or any other — during his two years on the amici curiae roster.” From No Rules – FISA Court Advisor Was Cut Out Of Loop, Strzok Was Texting From SCIFs https://www.anonymousconservative.com/blog/no-rules-fisa-court-advisor-was-cut-out-of-loop-strzok-was-texting-from-scifs/
REAL problems at the FISA court—with the FBI—and we are talking about staffers allegedly did to their spouses.
What is more important? What does this blog cover? Nonsense. While real constitutional issues are discussed elsewhere. Prof. Turley really flys his liberal colors on his blog. Let’s not talk about substantial things about what the government is really doing—but everyone must concentrate on the dog-and-pony-show that the liberals want to press! Rod Porter and Sorenson are the dog-and-pony-shows that we must all concentrate on. Forget the real issues people.
A growing number of resources exist for reporting predatory men. Searches are done for repeat offenders. Today it’s not god watching you. It is electronic databases.
What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty?” This reminds me of the old tried and true method of determining a defendant’s guilt: You could only bring to court people who knew nothing about the facts of the case. The judge counted the number of people you brought to back you and the number the plaintiff brought to back him. Whoever, had the most, won. It’s surprising to me that a criminal defense attorney would essentially declare anyone who is accused in the media “guilty until he files a defamation action.” Realistically, the sole purpose of such an action would be to maximize attorney employment. Let’s face it, the outsize press given to the accusations is only resurrected and magnified by the suit. It’s the accusations that are “newsworthy,” (“Man Bites Dog!”). So the media will have a feeding frenzy on salacious accusations throughout the trial. In the end, though, if the plaintiff prevails, that fact will be no more newsworthy than “dog bites man.”
These dudes leave cause they are unfit for humanity even in a T rump prezzy. These brutal men are convicted only in da domain of public opinion but not da courtroom. At one time not so long again da local police did not even touch da wife beaters bet there were people that defended that predator Dr. Nunes.
Doc Nasar not da Rep Nunes. Thinking about da memo.
What’s your opinion about da Democrat wife beaters like Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio whose ex-wife accused him of physical violence and abuse and requested a restraining order against him?
Or Tom Carper, D-Delaware….”Did I slap my wife (and give her a black eye) 20 years ago? Yes.”
She acknowledges slapping him when he called her a c***.
Trump hires the best people.
She says that Sorensen burned her with cigars and ran over her. T rump hires da best people. Ivanka said da Donald raped her in her divorce papers. All fine men doing the work of da brutal patriarchy.
Hey, Ken. I had no idea that Donald Trump married and divorced his daughter Ivanka. Can you offer proof of such a horrible allegation?
No, Lawrence. Ken committed a typographical error. He meant to type Ivana. Or Ken got confused about the difference between the two names. Everybody makes mistakes, sometimes. Ken corrected his own previous mistake between Nassar versus Nunes. And he explained that one, as well.