Kellyanne Conway is facing her biggest crisis as a senior aide to Donald Trump, after three self-inflicted wounds in as many weeks.
Conway was rebuked by the White House on Thursday after she promoted the branded products of the president’s daughter, Ivanka, during a TV interview. Ethics experts said she may have broken the law regarding conflicts of interest.
It was the gravest gaffe yet by the 50-year-old, who was seen as the most effective public face of an insurgent election campaign in which even opponents reluctantly credited her with a genius for the dark art of spin.
Governing has proved more treacherous. On 22 January, asked about the administration’s false claims over the size of the crowds at Trump’s inauguration, the White House counsellor replied: “Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts.” The phrase “alternative facts” became a millstone around her neck.
On 2 February, defending the president’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, Conway told MSNBC that two Iraqis who came to the US and had been radicalised “were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre”. When it was pointed out the “massacre” never happened – and subsequently that Conway had made the claim in other interviews – she was widely ridiculed.
Then on Thursday, speaking from the White House briefing room on the Fox & Friends TV show, she defended Ivanka Trump’s line of shoes, handbags, apparel and other accessories after department store Nordstrom decided to drop the brand.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would tell you,” she said, adding: “It’s a wonderful line. I own some of it … I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
It was a third strike but Conway is not out, at least for now. Spicer, the White House spokesman, said she had been “counselled” and that the administration “absolutely” continues to support her.
However, the chairman of the House oversight committee, Jason Chaffetz, and ranking member Elijah Cummings wrote to the Office of Government Ethics, asking it to investigate and recommend “appropriate disciplinary action”. The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also filed a complaint.
This may prove to be the moment when a key asset for Trump turns into a liability.
“During the election she was one of the most effective Trump surrogates for creating the kind of reality he needed to win his electoral college vote,” said Neil Sroka, spokesperson for the progressive group Democracy for America. “What folks like me had a grudging respect for was her ability to spin the truth.
“She’s lost the golden touch. We’re seeing reality catch up with Kellyanne Conway and the Donald Trump administration. That’s what happened with ‘alternative facts’ and ‘the Bowling Green massacre’ and what we saw today with the admission that they’re trying to use the White House bully pulpit to enrich Donald Trump’s family.”
Sroka added: “I wonder how much longer Trump will want to have her around when she keeps screwing up over and over again.”
Conway was hired by Trump in July, having worked for his rival Ted Cruz, and eventually became his campaign manager – the first woman in that role to guide a US presidential candidate to victory. She continued to be a regular surrogate for Trump during the transition, continuing the high-wire act with charm and a rare talent for reframing questions.
Asked, for example, if Trump’s insistence on claiming, groundlessly, that millions of people voted illegally was presidential behaviour, she replied: “He’s the president-elect, so that’s presidential behaviour.”
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni described a typical Conway TV interview as a thing of “sheer, jaw-dropping wonder … 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.”
Now, however, Conway’s crown appears to be slipping. Evan McMullin, a former CIA operative who was an independent candidate in last year’s presidential election, said on Thursday: “After the ‘Bowling Green massacre’ and attempt to normalise ‘alternative facts’, which is a euphemism for falsehoods and untruths, it’s hard to see how her credibility can be taken seriously.”
Rick Tyler, a political analyst and former spokesperson for Cruz, said: “She gave a very good performance [during the campaign] but lately the contortions are beyond what is doable. She should know how a phrase like ‘alternative facts’ is going to be traded around. She repeated the ‘Bowling Green massacre’ a few times and that’s hard to reconcile.”
Her latest pronouncement on Ivanka Trump’s products, Tyler said, “may have broken the law”.
Bob Shrum, a Democratic consultant who worked for Al Gore and John Kerry, said: “The untruths are more noticeable now because they’re in the White House but her pattern all along was to say whatever pops into her head that she thinks defends [Trump].
“I think this latest thing is a firing offence. The other stuff – ‘alternative facts’, ‘Bowling Green massacre’ – people like Gore and Kerry would not have tolerated, but Trump sees her as loyal and that’s all that matters.”
There were, however, few direct calls for Conway’s resignation. Some speculated that she might in fact have pleased Trump, by amplifying what he has said on Twitter.
Rich Galen, former press secretary to vice-president Dan Quayle, said: “It is something everyone jumped on because it was the shiny object today. It’s a long way from a resignable offence. I’m not sure she knew it was illegal.
“She goes into automatic mode and hears what comes out her mouth at the same time everyone else does.”
- Additional reporting by Ben Jacobs
