Although it is unclear when he will leave the White House, former aide to President Trump Rob Porter resigned after being accused of domestic violence by two ex-wives. These women have accused him of repeated physical abuse including punching and choking; The Daily Mail has even released pictures of his first ex-wife with bruises on her face, allegedly from Porter. Prior to his resignation, however, he stated that the accusations were false and that the images posted were dated incorrectly and out of context.

Another White House official, David Sorensen, resigned on Friday Feb. 9 after being accused of running over his ex-wife’s foot with his car and putting out a cigarette on her. He, too, denied the validity of this allegation.

These two cases of domestic abuse leave me with one question: If innocent, why resign?

It seems like an innocent person would firmly deny and ignore these accusations by continuing their work without fear, but both have decided to step aside.

Soon after their resignations, President Donald Trump took it upon himself to comment on these allegations using his preferred medium of Twitter.

While I think Trump is right in saying that people’s lives can be ruined by false accusations, these White House officials have chosen to give up their jobs. They have chosen not to fight to clear their name, which to me sounds a lot like they are more concerned about shying away from the spotlight in order for the issues to be avoided and no longer investigated.

Trump is also the president that has repeatedly defended other men who were accused of violence or sexual assault, such as Alabama’s former Republican candidate for Senate Roy Moore, former Chairman and CEO of Fox News Roger Ailes, and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

Not to mention, Trump himself has, on multiple occasions, made extreme, vulgar comments about women and been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women.

Trump has been nothing but supportive of the men who have been accused of these atrocities, and casting doubt on their accusers without considering that they may, in fact, be right. I think it’s clear that our president has been using his bias and misogynistic views to defend individuals who have abused women, just like he has.