The White House knew about the domestic violence episodes checkering the Shanahan family past for months and went ahead with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan’s pre-confirmation process anyway, according to NBC News.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump claimed ignorance of the incidents to reporters on Tuesday on his way to Florida.
Shanahan withdrew from the process on Tuesday after details started leaking out of a violent altercation between him and his ex-wife which resulted in her arrest, and another episode where his 17-year-old son beat his ex-wife with a baseball bat so badly that he fractured her skull.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is raising questions about what the White House knew and when, calling for a Pentagon inspector general investigation into “possibly a deliberate concealment.”
“I want to know whether it’s the FBI, or some deliberate concealment by Shanahan,” Blumenthal added, noting that Shanahan may have violated the law if he didn’t disclose his full history to the White House.
