It’s almost comical how badly the Trump administration has handled the Rob Porter situation. Their spokespeople are all over the media with blatantly conflicting statements, some condemning Porter while Trump and others praise him.

But the worst part of it is that FBI Director Christopher Wray has now testified that they told the White House about Porter’s issues that prevented him from getting a security clearance not once, not twice, but three times.

The White House should have known for months that Porter wouldn’t receive clearance for some more time because, at least in part, of these accusations. And even after photographs of one of Porter’s ex-wives were published showing her with a black eye, the White House tried to defend Porter to the media.

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray explained the timeline of the FBI’s background check into Porter.

Wray:

“What I can tell you is that the FBI submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in March, and then a completed background investigation in late July, that is — soon thereafter we received requests for follow-up inquiry, and we did the follow-up, and provided that information in November. And then we administratively closed the file in January. And then earlier this month we received some additional information and we passed that on as well.”

That’s just the FBI’s sharing of information with the White House, which was fully completed — following two previous reports — in November. We know, too, that there were other ways in which the White House could have been or was informed about the abuse accusations.