White House counselor Kellyanne Conway spoke out Tuesday against her husband’s scathing Washington Post op-ed in which he said he has “no doubt” President Donald Trump is a racist.
“No, I totally disagree,” Conway told Fox News of husband George Conway’s column. “But I work with this president. I know him. I know his heart, I know his actions, I know how much he has helped people of color. And I go by what people do, not what other people say about them.”
George Conway wrote in his op-ed, published Monday night, that he had previously given Trump the benefit of the doubt. But he said he knew after the president’s attacks on progressive Democratic congresswomen that his assessment was wrong.
“Naivete, resentment and outright racism, roiled in a toxic mix, have given us a racist president,” Conway, a lawyer, wrote. “Trump could have used vile slurs, including the vilest of them all, and the intent and effect would have been no less clear.”
Trump, in a series of tweets Sunday that he has since amplified, urged the lawmakers to “go back” to “the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” He appeared to be targeting Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan ― all of whom are women of color. Omar is the only one of the four who was not born in the U.S., and emigrated from Somalia as a child.
The remarks drew widespread condemnation from Democrats, including the lawmakers the president targeted.
Trump, however, has spent the two days since fanning the firestorm. A few Republicans have rebuked Trump for the racist remarks, but most Republicans have remained silent, and Trump allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) have come to his defense.
George Conway has become known for repeatedly criticizing Trump, raising questions within the media over his differences with Kellyanne Conway, who is one of the president’s staunchest defenders. She said questions about the couple’s differences on the subject of Trump were inappropriate.
“Respectfully, I’m not going to run around pointing out everybody’s disagreements with the people in their lives,” she said. “I sure could. I can point out people’s disagreements with their former spouses, their current spouses and partners, their future spouses and partners, but I won’t do that, and I would caution all those particular people who are going to ask me at the gaggle now not to do that.”