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Donald Trump.
- February proved to be one of the most bizarre months in President Donald Trump's White House.
- The month was headlined by weeks of some of the most tumultuous internal drama yet.
- The end results of that drama have rattled the administration, and no one knows what comes next.
As January wound down to a close, The Washington Post's Ashley Parker wrote how the month "felt like a year and the pilot episode for the 12-part series to come."
February did not disappoint as the series' second episode.
Consider the 28th and final day:
- President Donald Trump blasted his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, whom he reportedly calls "Mr. Magoo."
- There was a report of a "death match" between White House chief of staff John Kelly and top Trump aides and family members Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
- Trump's longest-tenured aide Hope Hicks announced a stunning resignation from the White House.
- Reports emerged that Kushner's family business received loans after key White House meetings.
- Trump called out a Republican senator on camera for being "afraid of the NRA."
- In the same meeting, he suggested that he would like to "take the guns first, go through due process second" when considering how to handle the availability of firearms to people with mental illness.
The theme of the month was one of strife at the White House - arguably, its most tumultuous month internally yet.
The Rob Porter scandal
The month went off the rails after Rob Porter, a top White House aide, was accused by his two ex-wives of physical and emotional abuse.
At the time, Porter, who strongly denied the allegations, was dating Hicks. Top White House officials, including Kelly, immediately stood by Porter, defending him publicly even after his resignation was reported. Kelly soon came under fire for his initial response, which Hicks helped craft.
- It soon became apparent that the FBI had alerted the White House to the allegations against Porter, which were preventing him from obtaining a permanent security clearance.
- The scandal quickly snowballed.
- Some officials publicly admitted the administration could have done better - something never before seen - while others pointed fingers at top staffers such as Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn for not taking action sooner.
- Trump, in his first public response to the ordeal, wished Porter well and said he hopes his post-White House career will be "wonderful."
- Days later, FBI Director Christopher Wray tossed a wrench into the White House's narrative about how it handled the scandal, signaling the FBI alerted the administration to problems with Porter's background check months ago.
The knives were out for Kelly at this point.
"Kelly is now just another staffer who could get fired any day of the week by Donald J. Trump," one person close to the White House told Business Insider.
Omarosa, Michael Cohen, and a porn star
Amid the Porter scandal, former top Trump staffers came back into the public conscience.
- Former top White House aide Omarosa Manigault began her stint on the CBS reality show "Celebrity Big Brother."
- She unloaded on Trump, saying she was "haunted" by his tweets "every single day." The country, she said, is "going to not be OK."
- Meanwhile, Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime personal lawyer, admitted he facilitated a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.
- That payment was the center of a controversy over whether Trump was involved in paying off Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, prior to the 2016 presidential election to stay quiet about an alleged 2006 affair.
"As Trump's personal attorney, Cohen was an agent of then-candidate Trump. The timing and circumstances of the $130,000 payment to Daniels make it appear that the hush money was paid to Daniels in an effort to influence the election," Paul S. Ryan, vice president of litigation and policy for Common Cause, said in a statement.
Trump unleashes on Presidents Day weekend
Trump went off with one of his wildest weekends as president. Within the span of a few days on the Presidents Day holiday weekend, Trump ranted at length about everything from those indictments to Oprah Winfrey.
Trump also raised eyebrows during his visits with victims and first responders of the Florida shooting, and he took aim at former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton related to the Russia investigation.
His Russia-related rant continued well into the following week. He soon questioned why Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not investigating former Obama and his administration in relation to the probe. This week, after blasting the attorney general again, The Washington Post reported Trump calls Sessions "Mr. Magoo."
Sessions fired back.
"As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution," Sessions said in a statement.
A terrible final week for Jared Kushner
The end of the month worked as a wrecking ball tearing through some of the White House's framework. Gone were two top aides, while Kushner took a beating in the press.
- Kushner's security clearance got downgraded.
- He appeared to break the law by signing a campaign statement with his official title.
- It was reported that foreign governments are trying to manipulate him.
- His right-hand man, deputy communications director Josh Raffel, announced his departure.
"Two enter," the source said. "Only one survives."
Another shockwave went through the White House Wednesday afternoon: Hicks, Trump's longest serving aide, was headed for the exit. It came a day after she told the House Intelligence Committee that she told white lies for the president.
Just moments earlier, Trump was huddled with Republicans and Democrats to discuss gun control. And, much to the surprise of some Republicans, he seemed to side with Democrats, advocating for nearly all of the proposals they put forth.
In what was his perhaps most shocking comment all month, he told the group that he likes "taking the guns early" during a discussion of the availability of firearms to people with mental illness.
"I like taking the guns early," Trump said, adding, "Take the guns first, go through due process second."
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