'Thank you, baby': Donald Trump pays tribute to Kellyane Conway for going on CNN to 'destroy' his critics when 'my men are petrified to go on'

  • The president-to-be called Kellyanne Conway to the stage Thursday night
  • Praised her for stepping in when 'his men' are 'petrified' to go on a network
  • Conway will also be celebrating her 50th birthday on Inauguration Day
  • She has become the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign

By Clemence Michallon For Dailymail.com

Published: 23:01 EST, 19 January 2017 | Updated: 00:01 EST, 20 January 2017

Donald Trump paid a vibrant tribute to his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway at his campaign donors' dinner Thursday night.

The president-elect called Conway to the stage during his speech at the Union Station event and praised the woman who has so many times pleaded his cause in televised interviews.

'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. Thank you. Thank you. Be careful,' Trump told Conway.

He has chosen the former pollster, who will turn 50 on Inauguration Day, to be one of his counselors in the White House.

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Take a bow: Kellyanne Conway was called onstage by Donald Trump Thursday night during his pre-inaugural campaign donors' dinner

The mogul kissed his former campaign manager's hand as he praised her for always willing to attend television interviews - even the ones that leave his 'men' 'petrified'

Trump's homage to Conway came as he was addressing a room full of his campaign donors at Washington DC's train station.

The dinner marked the end of Trump's pre-inauguration celebrations, after a ceremony during which he lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and a concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

'I see my Kellyanne. Aw, Kellyanne. Come here Kellyanne, come up here,' the mogul said during his address.

'She’s been so great. Wow,' he continued as Conway walked onstage in a one-shoulder red gown.

Trump did not say which network left his staffers too terrified to go on air, but he might have been referring to CNN. The president-elect has been feuding with the network, refusing last week to take one of their reporters' questions and telling him: 'You're fake news.'

Conway told reporters earlier in the evening that Trump's teach will have two things to celebrate tomorrow as Inauguration Day will also bring her 50th birthday

On duty: Conway, who has been tasked by Trump as one of his presidential counselors, spoke to reporters throughout the pre-inauguration festivities

The former pollster, who has become the first woman to successfully lead a presidential campaign, seemed in high spirits as she stopped to greet some of the guests

He then praised her for her work with the media, whom he criticized at several points during his speech. 

Conway, who has become the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign, told reporters earlier in the evening that the Trump team will have two things to celebrate on Inauguration Day as it will also bring her 50th birthday.

She said Trump might make his first executive decisions by Monday and confirmed he had finished writing his inauguration speech - but didn't elaborate.

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