Speaking from the White House press briefing room, Kellyanne Conway told Americans they should “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” following reports that many retailers are dropping Ivanka Trump’s eponymous clothing line, The Week reports.
Said Conway: “I’m going to give it a free commercial here; go buy it today.”
However, it appears Conway violated a ban on Federal employee using public office for endorsement of product.
I’m not sure Kellyanne Conway has ever faced a tougher interview.
Axios: “A source with direct knowledge tells Axios that Republican operatives were urging at least one conservative-friendly website to write Jake Tapper hit pieces yesterday after his hard-hitting interview with Kellyanne Conway.”
Kellyanne Conway “allegedly punched a tuxedo-clad man at an exclusive inauguration ball just hours after the new commander-in-chief was sworn in,” the New York Daily News reports.
“Conway, who serves as President Trump’s senior counselor, apparently stepped between two men after they got into a scuffle at the invite-only Liberty Ball on Friday evening… But the two men wouldn’t break up the fight and Conway apparently punched one of them in the face with closed fists at least three times, according to the stunned onlooker.”
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Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told NBC News that White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave “alternative facts” when he inaccurately described the inauguration crowd as “the largest ever” during his first appearance before the press this weekend.
She then went on to echo Spicer’s claim on Saturday that it wasn’t possible to count the count, despite Trump’s team’s accompanying insistence that it was the “largest audience.”
“There is no den she will not go into. When my men are petrified to go on a certain network I say, ‘Kellyanne, will you go?’ Then she gets on and she just destroys them. So anyway, thank you, baby.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the Daily Mail, paying tribute to Kellyanne Conway at a campaign donors dinner.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway blasted Senate Democrats for “trying to embarrass” the incoming administration’s Cabinet nominees, The Hill reports.
Said Conway: “This idea of humiliating and trying to embarrass qualified men and women who just wish to serve this nation is reprehensible.”
Frank Bruni: “As the cabinet nominees submit to their inquisitions and Trump holds his first news conference since the election, there’s a surfeit of political spectacle this week.”
“But for sheer, jaw-dropping wonder, I doubt that any of it will improve on a typical Conway television interview, which is a circus of euphemisms, a festival of distractions and a testament to the stamina of a willed smile. She looks cheery when attacking, even cheerier when attacked and absolutely radiant when descending into a bog of half-truths and fictions. It’s always sunny on Conway’s side of the street.”
“You can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this? And he’s telling you what was in his heart. You always want to go by what comes out of his mouth rather than look at what’s in his heart.”
— Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, in a CNN interview, criticizing the media for focusing on what Donald Trump says.
“I don’t play golf and I don’t have a mistress, so I have a lot of time that these other men don’t.”
— Kellyanne Conway, in an interview on Fox News.
President-elect Donald Trump has named Kellyanne Conway, his former campaign manager, as counselor to the president in the incoming administration, CNN reports.
New York Times: “Mr. Trump had wanted Ms. Conway to have a spokeswoman role in the administration. She declined that role and publicly discussed working with an outside political group backing the president, even as she held out for a West Wing position that would have a title on par with those of Reince Priebus and Stephen Bannon, the chief strategist.”
Kellyanne Conway told Morning Joe that Donald Trump’s family members could be included on the White House staff.
Said Conway: “The anti-nepotism law apparently has an exception if you want to work in the West Wing because the president is able to appoint his own staff. Of course, this came about to stop maybe family members from serving on the Cabinet, but the president does have discretion to choose a staff of his liking.”
She added: “So if that is true and that legal advice holds then that will open up a realm of possibilities.”
Kellyanne Conway said she “politely declined” an offer to be White House press secretary for Donald Trump and that communications, particularly with a “hostile” press will be paramount in Trump’s White House, Politico reports.
Said Conway: “As you imagine in President Trump’s administration, communications will be a very important aspect for it and there will be a number of people handling that.”
Kellyanne Conway defended President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to remain an executive producer on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” even as he takes office, arguing that “presidents have a right to do things in their spare time,” CNN reports.
Said Conway: “He’s a very transparent guy. Everyone can see what he’s doing, and the fact is that he is conferring with all types of experts who tell him what he can do and not do as president of the United States. If this is one of the approved activities, then perhaps he will consider staying on.”
Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told the Washington Post that she is considering leading a group being formed that will provide “a surround-sound super structure” to bolster the new administration’s political and policy goals.
Conway said that she “is still deciding whether to join Trump at the White House or run the organization, which will seek to harness his most fervent supporters in political and policy fights… Conway said she and her family are considering relocating to Washington from New York and have been house-hunting.”
“Kellyanne Conway is considering taking the helm of the external political operation that will support Donald Trump during his tenure as president,” The Hill reports.
“Just as President Obama’s outside organization became a powerful force in progressive politics, Trump’s infrastructure could become a dominant force on the right. What becomes of this group — and who runs it — is one of the hottest topics of conversation circulating the D.C. Republican scene.”
Donald Trump’s campaign manager said that she did not think the election will be rigged, though she argued that there’s “a larger conspiracy” working against her candidate, Politico reports.
Said Kellyanne Conway: “No, I do not believe that. So absent overwhelming evidence that there is, it would not be for me to say that there is.”
“She has so many advantages. She has endless money. She’s got a lot of the media. She has a very popular president and first lady campaigning for her… I will tell you, I am mystified as to why she can’t get to those 52, 53 percent numbers in some of these states given the disadvantages we’re handed every day.”
— Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, quoted by Politico, arguing that Hillary Clinton should have a bigger lead.
Tim Miller: “Trump knows he’s on a death march, which is why he has reverted to his purest id over the past few days. Belittling women that he allegedly sexually assaulted, concocting racist conspiracy theories about the global elites and minority communities rigging the election, and proffering bombastic lies about his opponent that he knows cable news can’t help but cover.”
“The death march is why Conway has begun to resurrect a time-honored practice: duplicitous political operatives throwing their boss under the bus to try to save face. In an attempt to preserve a lucrative fee on the public speaking circuit after the campaign, Conway has sent a series of tweets over the past week trying to position herself as both in on the joke with Saturday Night Live and the conscience on Trump’s shoulder trying to get him to behave. As a fellow anti-Trump conservative pointed out, Conway is officially playing the role of ‘punch clock villain.'”
“To a casual observer, this behavior might seem counterproductive to the goal Trump and Conway share: winning the election. But the reality is the only goal either has in mind now is self-preservation.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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