Kellyanne Conway

Since Trump's inauguration, Conway has been embroiled in a series of controversies: using the phrase "alternative facts", talking about a "Bowling Green massacre" that never occurred, and claiming that Michael Flynn had the full confidence of the president hours before he was dismissed. Members of Congress from both parties called for an investigation of an apparent ethics violation after she publicly endorsed commercial products associated with the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump. In June 2019, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended that Conway be fired for "unprecedented" multiple violations of the Hatch Act of 1939.

Conway continued to make frequent television appearances and comment on political topics. In May 2019, Conway declared: "If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it's not going to work ... Let me know when the jail sentence starts".

On June 13, 2019, the OSC formally recommended that Conway be removed from federal service, citing multiple Hatch Act violations by Conway since the preparation of its 2018 report, "by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media". The OSC noted her criticism from February to May 2019 of candidates such as Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Kirsten Gillibrand, and also called her violations "egregious, notorious, and ongoing". The OSC noted that this was the first time they "had to issue multiple reports to the President concerning Hatch Act violations by the same individual". In an interview, Kerner characterized his agency's recommendation as unprecedented, adding, "You know what else is unprecedented? Kellyanne Conway’s behavior."

On June 26, 2019, Conway did not appear at a hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, leading that committee to issue a subpoena for her. At that hearing, Special Counsel Henry Kerner testified that Conway had been found guilty of 2 Hatch Act violations in 2018 and 11 in 2019. In comparison, during the eight years of the Obama administration, only 2 federal employees were found guilty of violating the Hatch Act, with 1 violation each.

In September 2019, Conway's cousin Giovanna Coia, who is White House Press Assistant, married Vice President Mike Pence's nephew John Pence, who works for Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign.

In March 2019, President Trump responded to criticism from Kellyanne's husband George by describing George as a "stone cold LOSER & husband from hell". Kellyanne defended her boss, Trump, by saying that George Conway is "not a psychiatrist" and that Trump should be expected to respond when George, "a non-medical professional accuses him of having a mental disorder".

In a September 2018 interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Conway stated she was the victim of a sexual assault.

Conway has been criticized as a spin doctor of high prominence, particularly in her role as cable TV spokesperson for the Trump Administration. She has been lauded as a "Trump whisperer." As part of their long-running feud with Donald Trump, the MSNBC show Morning Joe publicly "banned" Conway in February 2017.

In early December, Conway claimed that Hillary Clinton supporters were making death threats against her. Consequently, Trump assigned Secret Service to protect her. Conway gave up her Secret Service protection in September 2017 due to "reduction in threats."

On February 2, 2017, Conway appeared in a television news show interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews. In order to justify President Trump's immigration ban, she referenced an event allegedly perpetrated by Iraqi terrorists she termed the "Bowling Green massacre". Such an event never took place. Vox suggested Conway was referring to the 2011 arrest of two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Conway stated the next day that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists", both of whom had pleaded guilty to carrying out and supporting attacks on American soldiers in Iraq. There was never any suggestion that they had planned to carry out attacks in the United States.

On February 5, 2017, New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen argued that, given repeated misstatements of fact, Conway should cease being booked as a guest on television news shows. CNN opted not to book Conway as a guest that day because of what the network said were "serious questions about her credibility."

On February 9, 2017, during an appearance on Fox & Friends, Conway discussed department store Nordstrom's decision to drop products supplied by Ivanka Trump's business. "Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell you", said Conway; she elaborated "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". Within hours, two organizations filed formal ethics complaints against Conway for violating federal law prohibiting use of a federal position "for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise". Public Citizen asked the Office of Governmental Ethics (OGE) to investigate, saying that Conway's remarks reflected "an on-going careless regard of the conflicts of interest laws and regulations of some members of the Trump family and Trump Administration". The group's president, Robert Weissman, declared, "Since she said it was an advertisement, that both eliminates any question about whether outsiders are unfairly reading into what's being said, and two, it makes clear that wasn't an inadvertent remark". Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a similar complaint with the OGE and with the White House Counsel's Office; the group's executive director, Noah Bookbinder, stated "This seems to us to be about as clear-cut a violation as you can find".

Conway's comments drew bipartisan Congressional condemnation. Chaffetz, a Republican, called them "clearly over the line" and "unacceptable". Cummings, a Democrat and the committee's ranking member, called them "jaw-dropping", Both Chaffetz and Cummings wrote the United States Office of Government Ethics on February 9, 2017, requesting that Conway's behavior be investigated and that the office recommend "suggested disciplinary action, if warranted".

On November 24, 2017, Walter Shaub, the former director of the OGE, said that he filed an ethics complaint against Conway. He argued that Conway violated the Hatch Act of 1939 when she criticized Doug Jones, a candidate in the 2017 U.S. Senate special election in Alabama. On March 6, 2018, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) — led by Trump appointee Henry Kerner — issued its final report, determining that Conway violated the Hatch Act in two television interviews in November and December 2017.

On February 13, 2017, Conway claimed that former national security advisor Michael Flynn had the president's "full confidence". Hours later, Flynn resigned. The following day, Conway claimed Flynn had offered to resign, but White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump had asked Flynn for his resignation. It was then reported that Conway had allegedly leaked negative stories about Spicer to the press.

She came under widespread criticism because her comments about Flynn had been so inaccurate. On February 15, 2017, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin said Conway should be banned from future television appearances. "In recent days, George Stephanopoulos and Matt Lauer blasted her directly, essentially calling her a fabulist. Given all that, it would be irresponsible for any news show to put her out there, suggesting she really does not know what is going on at any given moment", Rubin wrote. Also on February 15 the MSNBC news show Morning Joe officially banned her from future appearances. The show's primary host Joe Scarborough said the decision to ban Conway from the show was based on her being "out of the loop" and "in none of the key meetings". He added "She's not briefed. She's just saying things just to get in front of the TV to prove her relevance." The show's co-host Mika Brzezinski said, "I don't believe in fake news, or information that is not true... every time I've ever seen her on television, something's askew, off or incorrect."

Conway, who lived in Trump World Tower from 2001 to 2008 and conducted private polls for Trump in late 2013 when he was considering running for governor of New York, initially endorsed Ted Cruz in the Republican presidential primaries in 2016 and chaired a pro-Cruz political action committee. After Cruz withdrew from the race, Trump appointed Conway as a senior advisor and later campaign manager. On December 22, 2016, Trump announced that Conway would join his administration as counselor to the president. On November 29, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that Conway would oversee White House efforts to combat the opioid overdose epidemic.

When the 2016 election campaigns got underway, Conway had been acquainted with Donald Trump for years, because she lived in Trump World Tower from 2001 to 2008 and sat on the condo board. Yet she initially endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and chaired a pro-Cruz political action committee known as Keep the Promise I, which was almost entirely funded by businessman Robert Mercer. Conway's organization criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as "extreme" and "not a conservative". On January 25, 2016, Conway criticized Trump as "a man who seems to be offending his way to the nomination." On January 26, Conway criticized Trump's use of eminent domain, saying "Donald Trump has literally bulldozed over the little guy to get his way."

In mid-June 2016, Cruz suspended his campaign and Conway left.

On July 1, 2016, Trump announced that he had hired Conway for a senior advisory position on his presidential campaign. Conway was expected to advise Trump on how to better appeal to female voters. On August 19, following the resignation of Paul Manafort, Trump named Conway the campaign's third campaign manager. She served in this capacity for 10 weeks, through the November 8 general election, and was the first woman to successfully run an American presidential campaign, and the first woman to run a Republican general election presidential campaign. Since October 2016, Conway has been satirized on Saturday Night Live, in which she is portrayed by Kate McKinnon. In a January 2017 interview, Conway acknowledged the SNL parody by noting that, "Kate McKinnon clearly sees the road to the future runs through me and not Hillary."

On November 10, 2016, Conway tweeted publicly that Trump had offered her a White House job. "I can have any job I want", she said on November 28. On November 24, Conway tweeted that she was "Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney. Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state" with a link to an article on Trump loyalists' discontent for the 2012 nominee. Conway told CNN she was only tweeting what she has shared with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence in private.

On December 1, Conway appeared with senior aides of the Trump campaign, at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, for a forum on the 2016 presidential race; the quadrennial post-presidential election forum has been held at the School of Government since 1972. Sitting across from Conway were senior Clinton campaign aides, including Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook. As tempers began to flare, the forum escalated into a "shouting match"; during one exchange, Clinton senior strategist Joel Benenson said "The fact of the matter is that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump." Conway replied to Benenson while looking at the Trump aides: "Hey, guys, we won. You don't have to respond. He was the better candidate. That's why he won."

Conway came under criticism when she was photographed sitting on an Oval Office couch with her legs folded beneath her — shoes pressed against the upholstery — during President Trump's meeting with leaders from historically black colleges and universities. Some observers suggested the sitting position was a sign of disrespect and a lack of decorum. Body language expert Patti Wood asserted that Conway's posture was not only rude, but "rather sexual", and a sign that she "doesn't have to follow the rules" because she was "buddies with Trump." Conway later addressed the controversy with Lou Dobbs, saying that she was asked to take photographs of the meeting from a certain angle and that she certainly meant "no disrespect." She also blamed the media for the ensuing furor.

She does not consider herself a feminist "in a classical sense" because she believes the term is associated with being "anti-male" and "pro-abortion", but rather identifies as what she calls an "individual feminist". Conway believes that many feminists fail to accept women who are pro-life and conservative, and has stated that such feminists "'mainly care about what happens from the waist down... It's an insult. You know, it's [from] the waist up for me — my eyes, my ears, my head, my heart, my mouth certainly.'" She has also stated that "nobody cared" about her experience with sexual harassment and her Me Too moment due to her political views.

Conway worked for U.S. Representative Jack Kemp; Senator Fred Thompson; Vice President Dan Quayle; Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; and Representative (now Vice President) Mike Pence. She worked as the senior advisor to Gingrich during his unsuccessful 2012 United States presidential election campaign. Another client in 2012 was U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin.

In 2005, Conway and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake co-authored What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2005; ISBN 0-7432-7382-6).

Conway has appeared as a commentator on polling and the political scene, having appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, NY1, and the Fox News Channel, in addition to various radio programs. She received the Washington Post's "Crystal Ball" award for accurately predicting the outcome of the 2004 election.

Conway is married to George T. Conway III, who is of counsel at the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and wrote the Supreme Court brief for Paula Jones during the Clinton impeachment in 1998. The couple have four children: twins Claudia and George IV, Charlotte, and Vanessa. They live in Alpine, New Jersey. Prior to her marriage, she dated the late senator and 2008 presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

Conway views herself as a Generation X conservative. Conway is pro-life, saying in 1996: "We're pro-life. The fetus beat us. We grew up with sonograms. We know life when we see it." She spoke at the 2017 March for Life, an annual rally protesting abortion and Roe v. Wade.

Conway entered the polling business when she was in law school, working as a research assistant for Wirthlin Group, a Republican polling firm. After graduating, she initially considered working for a law firm, but chose to work for Luntz Research Companies instead. While a student at Trinity College, she had met and become friends with Frank Luntz, the founder, on a year abroad at Oxford University. In 1995, she founded her own firm, the Polling Company. Conway's company has consulted on consumer trends, often trends regarding women. Conway's clients have included Vaseline, American Express and Hasbro.

Conway graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Trinity College, Washington, D.C. (now Trinity Washington University), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a Juris Doctor with honors from the George Washington University Law School in 1992. After graduation, she served as a judicial clerk for Judge Richard A. Levie of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

In the 1990s, Conway, along with other young conservative women Laura Ingraham, Barbara Olson, and Ann Coulter, helped turn punditry into "stylish stardom" in both Washington and cable television and credited with setting forth Washington D.C.'s "sexual awakening." In another review of the era in the capital, Conway (then known as Fitzpatrick) put it that her "broad mind and small waist have not switched places". Conway, Ingraham, and Coulter were sometimes called "pundettes" and appeared on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect.

During a Meet the Press interview two days after Trump's presidential inauguration, Conway used the phrase "alternative facts" to defend statements made by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer regarding the inauguration's crowd size. Conway's phrase reminded liberal-leaning commentators of "Newspeak", an obfuscatory language style that is a key element of the society portrayed in George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. Soon after Conway's interview, sales of the book had increased by 9,500%, which The New York Times and others attributed to Conway's use of the phrase, making it the number-one bestseller on Amazon.com.

Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway (née Fitzpatrick; born January 20, 1967) is an American pollster, political consultant, and pundit who serves as counselor to the president in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump. She was previously Trump's campaign manager, having been appointed in August 2016; Conway is the first woman to have run a successful U.S. presidential campaign. She has previously held roles as campaign manager and strategist in the Republican Party, and was formerly president and CEO of The Polling Company, Inc./WomanTrend.

Kellyanne Elizabeth Fitzpatrick was born on January 20, 1967, in Atco, New Jersey, to Diane (née DiNatale) and John Fitzpatrick. Conway's father had German, English, and Irish ancestry, while her mother is of Italian descent; John Fitzpatrick owned a small trucking company, and Diane worked at a bank. Conway was abandoned by her father, and her parents divorced when she was three. She was raised by her mother, grandmother and two unmarried aunts in the Atco section of Waterford Township, New Jersey, and graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1985, where she sang in the choir, played field hockey, worked on floats for parades, and was a cheerleader. A 1992 New Jersey Organized Crime Commission report identified Conway's grandfather, Jimmy "The Brute" DiNatale, as a mob associate of the Philadelphia crime family; DiNatale did not reside with Conway's grandmother, Conway, and the rest of her family. Conway's cousin, Mark DeMarco, has stated that while in high school, Conway ordered members of the football team to stop bullying him; according to DeMarco, the bullying stopped. Her family is Catholic.

The Hatch Act of 1939 states that federal government employees must not advocate their political beliefs while representing a public office. Violating such a law can result in such an employee being removed from public office, but not jailed. Conway has been accused of breaching the act on several occasions.