David Sorensen: Speechwriter becomes the second White House official to resign over domestic abuse allegations

Former aide denies claims by ex-wife Jessica Corbett and insists he has never been violent to any women

A second White House official has resigned from Donald Trump's administration after being accused of domestic abuse.

Speechwriter David Sorensen stepped down after his ex-wife Jessica Corbett told The Washington Post that he repeatedly attacked her during their two-and-a-half year marriage.

Sorensen denies the allegations - which emerged days after staff secretary Rob Porter, one of the president's closest aides, resigned over allegations he abused two former-wives.

Donald Trump has praised Mr Porter for doing "a very good job" and wished him a "wonderful career" after he quit.

"He said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent," Mr Trump added, without mentioning the alleged victims of the abuse.

The president's comments led Democrats to denounce The US President's lack of empathy.

"That's like saying that axe murderer out there, he's a great painter," said former Vice President Joe Biden. "Is there any other crime - and it's a crime - where there would be an explanation that the reason why we shouldn't pay attention to the transgression is because they're good at something?"

The latest resignation was confirmed by the White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah, who said in a statement: "Before we were contacted by the media, we learned last night that there were allegations. We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today."

Mr Sorensen, who was a senior adviser to the Maine governor, Paul LePage, before joining the Trump Administration, told The Post that he “had never committed violence of any kind against any woman in my entire life".

He claimed he resigned because he “didn’t want the White House to have to deal with this distraction” and insisted that he was abused by his wife.

Ms Corbett told The Washington Post that she informed the FBI about her ex-husband's behaviour last autumn.

She claimed Mr Sorensen ran a car over her foot, put out a cigarette on her hand, threw her into a wall and grabbed by her hair while they were alone on their boat off the coast of Maine.

Mr Sorensen meanwhile, has alleged that Ms Corbett punched him several times during the marriage. The couple divorced in September last year.

Trump's chief of staff John Kelly was already facing calls for his resignation over his handling of the abuse allegations before news of Sorensen's resignation emerged.