The ongoing civil war within the Conway household is one of the odder sideshows of the Trump era. Kellyanne Conway served as Trump’s campaign manager and now plays the role of his counselor. Her husband, George Conway, is a Republican attorney who has transformed himself into one of the most outspoken critics of this president and his Twitter profile is littered with assorted barbs, insults, and allegations of criminal behavior leveled explicitly at Trump.
Whether the stark difference in behavior is due to genuine disagreement in opinion or simply an act to provide the couple with an escape hatch should Kellyanne’s association with Trump make her toxic and unemployable after his administration ends is a matter of debate.
Kellyanne herself seems to think any discussion of her husband is out of line. According to right-wing publication The Washington Examiner, Kellyanne accosted their reporter Caitlin Yilek for writing an article on Tuesday about the speculation that she might be the next choice for Trump’s chief of staff.
Yilek was contacted by Kellyanne’s assistant who requested his conversation be off the record. Yilek agreed, but Conway herself soon got on the line. Since Conway herself failed to ask for her comments to be off the record as well, Yilek has released them.
Conway was “furious” that her husband had been mentioned in Yilek’s story. In particular, she was angry about Yilek penning the line “[Kellyanne had] been in the middle of Trump’s barbs with her husband, George, a conservative lawyer who frequently makes headlines for his criticism of the president.”
“So I just am wondering why in God’s earth you would need to mention anything about George Conway’s tweets in an article that talks about me as possibly being chief of staff. Other than it looks to me like there’s no original reporting here, you just read Twitter and other people’s stuff, which I guess is why you don’t pick up the phone when people call from the White House because, if it’s not on Twitter or it’s not on cable TV, it’s not real,” ranted Conway.
The president’s counselor went on and on, lobbing personal insults at Yilek by saying that she is “really going places” and that “nobody” read her story anyway. Yilek offered to connect her with an editor at the Examiner to share her thoughts and Conway launched into a self-aggrandizing tirade.
“Let me tell you something, from a powerful woman. Don’t pull the crap where you’re trying to undercut another woman based on who she’s married to. He gets his power through me, if you haven’t noticed. Not the other way around. And if these are the quote standards unquote at the Washington Examiner, then yes I’d be happy to talk to your editor. But I’ve known your editor since before you were born,” Conway said.
Later on, Conway voiced what could easily be interpreted as insecure feelings about her own legacy, something she should certainly be worried about as her reputation for being one of the worst enablers of the worst president in history is solidified.
“Do you think you could have written in there, first, only woman, first woman to run a successful presidential campaign? Do you think you could have described me as somebody who wears red a lot, or is a mother of four, who has been here from day one and has survived all these other people? Or maybe you have an obligation to tell people, well as far as you know, I’m not a leaker, let alone the leaker,” said Conway.
Conway ended the call by taking a page out of her boss’s book and threatening Yilek by implying that the administration might start digging into the personal lives of reporters who write about George Conway. Suffice to say, this is behavior unbecoming of a White House official and unfortunately exactly what we’ve come to expect from Trump and his frothing minions.
Check out the audio below.
Original reporting by Caitlin Yilek.
