Trump thinks White House staffer accused of beating wives is guilty -- but he's defending him anyway: report

President Donald Trump's staunch defense of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter drew widespread disgust last week -- however, a new report claims that Trump is defending Porter even though he privately believes that he's guilty.

Sources tell Axios' Jonathan Swan that Trump "has told multiple people that he believes the accusations about Porter, and finds him 'sick.'"

As Swan notes, however, this completely contradicts the president's public comments on the Porter scandal. On Friday, Trump said he felt sad that Porter had to resign while adding that he wished Porter well in any future career. The president has also pointed out that Porter has claimed to be completely innocent -- just as he did when he defended accused child molester Roy Moore last year.

During his statement, the president made no mention of the multiple women who have accused Porter of beating them.

"This is the strongest indicator yet that Trump will reflexively defend his male allies from any and all accusations, even when he thinks those accusations are true," writes Swan. "Trump tells friends that he deplores the #MeToo movement and believes it unfairly exposes CEOs to lawsuits from their female employees. The fact that women frequently face sexual predation in the workplace doesn’t impact his view on this."