White House official: School shooting gave us a 'reprieve' from being 'pummeled' on Rob Porter scandal

An anonymous White House official has told the Washington Post that last week's horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida felt like something of a "reprieve" for a White House staff that was deeply battered by scandal.

In an interview with the Washington Post, the official said that the mass shooting, which left 17 people dead, took some of the heat off the Trump White House for its handling of former staff secretary Rob Porter, whom the White House fired after credible allegations emerged that be beat his two former wives.

"For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve," the official said. "A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled."

However, the official also lamented that news coverage of the shooting would inevitably die down in the coming days, which would lead to more media focus on administration scandals.

"But as we all know, sadly, when the coverage dies down a little bit, we’ll be back through the chaos," the official said.