Vice President Mike Pence Defends Disgraced Aid Rob Porter With Bible Verse-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Vice President Mike Pence defended former White House Aid Rob Porter with a bible verse after two of Porter’s former wives accused him domestic abuse.
The Truth:
Vice President Mike Pence didn’t defend former White House Aid Rob Porter with a bible verse.
That false rumor started with a Facebook page called “Fox News the FB Page,” which isn’t affiliated with Fox News. The page often blurs the line between parody and fake news. And the page is designed to look like Fox News’ official Facebook page, so readers are frequently tricked into believing or sharing its fabricated reports.
This particular report first appeared on February 11, 2018. Just as the White House faced questions about how Rob Porter gained security clearance, the post muddied the waters. The post claims that Pence said: “Rob Porter is a fine, loyal Christian man. Those women who married him agreed to submit to him just as Jesus commanded them to do in the Bible. Sometimes the Lord allows us to get knocked around a little bit in life to teach us important lessons and draw us close to him. I”m sure Rob was just doing the same thing with his women.”
For his part, Vice President Pence said he was “appalled” by the allegations of abuse against Rob Porter. Pence added, “The time that he resigned was the first time I became aware of the allegations of domestic abuse,” and, “the White House has acknowledged that they could have handled it better.”
The White House has gone back and forth in its response to allegations against Porter. Initially, Chief of Staff John Kelly defended Porter. But within days of the allegations, Porter resigned and Kelly said “there is no place for domestic violence in our society.” Days later, however, President Trump appeared to defend Porter without naming him in a tweet:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/962348831789797381
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders expanded on those comments in a press briefing. She said the president supports “due process” and “taking a side necessarily one way or another on a specific issue.”
The fake quote in which Vice President Pence appears to defend Rob Porter with a biblical verse appears to be an attempt to parody the White House’s response to the situation.