Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway defended President Donald Trump’s derogatory tweets targeting her husband Wednesday, saying the comments were fair considering George Conway’s allegations against the president’s mental health.
“He left it alone for months out of respect for me,” Conway told Politico. “But you think he shouldn’t respond when somebody, a non-medical professional accuses him of having a mental disorder? You think he should just take that sitting down?”
Conway’s husband, a lawyer and frequent critic of the president, tweeted the definition of narcissistic personality disorder earlier this week, implying Trump suffers from such an illness. “Tell us, @realDonaldTrump—which of these diagnostic criteria do you not satisfy?” Conway goaded when the president lashed out.
Trump, who has so far refrained from targeting George Conway during his presidency, called the lawyer a “stone cold LOSER & husband from hell” Wednesday.
“George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted,” Trump tweeted.
According to the New York Times, George Conway actually withdrew his name from consideration for a top Justice Department position during the 2017 transition. He was not rejected, as Trump claimed.
In her interview with Politico, Conway stressed that the conflict between her husband and the president does not affect her work.
“Yesterday George spent the day tweeting about the president,” she told Politico. “I spent my day doing two one-hour briefings with press and intergovernmental affairs people, agency people from all across the country and then over an hour briefing that I led in the Oval Office with the president and first lady in the cabinet on opioids at one year, so this is what I do here.”
“I think it probably looks differently if everybody is turning into ‘Gossip Girl,'” she added.
