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It remains unclear why it took more than 12 hours after the photo of Holderness with a black eye surfaced for Chief of Staff General John Kelly to release a statement condemning Porter.

Both Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and legislative affairs director Marc Short seemed to provide on Sunday accounts inconsistent with the reported timeline of events that led to Porter’s resignation on Wednesday.

“I think what you saw happen this week… was completely reasonable and normal,” Mulvaney told Fox News on Sunday.

He claimed that Porter had initially come to both Trump and Kelly with an explanation disputing the Daily Mail’s original story detailing spousal abuse – but that “it became obvious when the photographs came out that [Porter] was not being honest” and “we dismissed [Porter] immediately.”

But that timeline conflicts with how and when the series of events leading to Porter’s ouster were reported in the media.

The Daily Mail posted the first interview with Willoughby on Tuesday night, followed by a separate story on Wednesday morning that included pictures of his first ex-wife Holderness’s black eye.

Throughout the day on Wednesday, The White House said that Trump and Kelly continued to have confidence in him — even after Porter’s resignation announcement. And it wasn’t until 9:28 p.m. Wednesday night that Kelly released his updated statement saying he was “shocked by the new allegations released today” and that he “accepted [Porter’s] resignation” – not that he was dismissed, as Mulvaney claimed.

Short in his interview with “Meet with the Press” seemed to directly contradict Mulvaney, saying that “I do know what Gen. Kelly has told me, which is he learned the full information on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning Rob Porter was out.”

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday that after they learned the extent of the situation, “within 24 hours his resignation had been accepted and announced.”

She added that the administration takes domestic violence “very seriously.”

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