Kellyanne Conway responds to ‘Morning Joe’ hosts
Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday responded to criticism from the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that she had been disingenuous in her promotion of President Donald Trump during the campaign, calling their claims “not true” and “absurd.”
Her response came a day after the hosts, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, used their show to claim that Conway had complained off camera about having to act as Trump’s campaign manager and had only taken the job “for the money,” in Scarborough’s words.
Conway, who is now a counselor in the White House, said the two hosts “have become virulent critics of the president and those close to them” and that she had to respond to because the sentiments they attributed to her were not true.
Taking a moment from more important matters to respond …. pic.twitter.com/B0uL0ME0Bi
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) May 16, 2017
“My beliefs, commitments and loyalties are plain to see,” she wrote in a statement attached to a tweet. “The notion that I am serving for ‘the money’ or a ‘paycheck’ is absurd. As campaign manager, I made a fraction of what other consultants have made on unsuccessful presidential campaigns.” She said she had “walked away from dozens of opportunities for millions of dollars, and instead walked into the White House. I would do it again.”
Conway called working for Trump’s campaign and the White House “a privilege.”
She added, “I know him, I respect him, I believe in him, and I am confident in his capacity to be a transformative and successful president.”
Brzezinski on Monday had quoted Conway as saying, after appearing on camera in her role with the Trump campaign, that she would have to “take a shower, because it feels so dirty to be saying what I’m saying.’”
Conway did not respond directly to that eye-catching statement.
The “Morning Joe” hosts had banned her from their show in February. They took that step after Conway came under intense criticism for describing false White House statements as “alternative facts.”
