Kellyanne Conway: Trump has sacrificed 'mightily' in things like money and power to become president

Peter Jacobs and Jeremy Berke
Kellyanne Conway
Kellyanne Conway

(White House advisor Kellyanne Conway makes remarks during a broadcast of Sean Hannity's TV show during the opening day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual gathering of conservative politicians, journalists and celebrities, at National Harbor, Maryland, February 22, 2017.REUTERS/Mike Theiler)

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said President Donald Trump has sacrificed "mightily" to serve in the White House at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"He's very generous, very kind, funny, compassionate, and people should really think about, when they see President Donald Trump, they should think about all the places that he was and could be, all the things he could be doing," Conway said, when asked how Trump is in private.

"The political motivators for many typical politicians, of which he's not one, Mercedes, money, power, prestige, fame — he had all of that. And he and his family have sacrificed mightily in those categories for him just to serve," Conway continued.

Conway made her return to TV Wednesday night, after CNN reported the Trump advisor had been "sidelined from television appearances for a week" for making misleading statements.

Appearing on Fox News' "Hannity," Conway denied that she had been sidelined by the White House.

"I don't think I have to explain myself if I'm not going to go on TV for a week," Conway said. "If I'm out with four kids for three days looking at houses and schools ... a lot of my colleagues aren't trying to figure out how to be a mother of four kids, I assure you."

Some of Conway's most recent TV appearances before her hiatus were criticized for statements about former national security advisor Michael Flynn that turned out to be contradictory to official White House messaging. She was also roundly criticized for promoting Ivanka Trump's clothing line on Fox News.

Some TV hosts — most notably MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, of "Morning Joe" — have flat-out banned Conway from appearing on their programs due to what they see are credibility issues.

"It got to a point where Kellyanne would keep coming out and everything she said was disproven five minutes later," Brzezinski's co-host Joe Scarborough told Stephen Colbert Tuesday night. "And it wasn't disproven by a fact-checker — it was somebody else in the administration who would come out and actually say, 'Well, actually, no, that's not true.'"

However, both in her remarks on "Hannity" and a statement to CNN, Conway deferred to the president, asserting that Trump was his own best advocate.

Conway told CNN that "Trump was his own best 'communicator and connector,' and did not need her to be a constant presence on television," CNN's Dylan Byers reported on Wednesday.

Similarly, she told Fox News host Sean Hannity that "about 5%" of her role as White House counselor involves appearing on TV.

"I think that's about right because he's the president now and he's his own best messenger," Conway said.

Conway is scheduled to speak at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.

Here's Conway's full answer from her CPAC talk, about how Trump is in private, below:

Well, most of the strength and the leadership skills and the decisiveness, the resoluteness that I think this country was craving from its president, from a leader, is the same in public as it is in private.

I find him to be very kind and generous. I find him to have a great sense of humor. I'm genuinely interested in everybody's lives, their own families, their own pursuit, their background, their knowledge.

He's a man who just absorbs information and people and experiences. And I've witnessed him firsthand with his five children, his 10 year old son, his wife Melania, who's just an incredible first lady for all of us, amazing.

God bless her, we're all very luck to have her leadership, as well. And I've witnessed him with his four adult children and his eight grandchildren. He's a family man. He is happiest when he's with his family and that's his -- that -- that really is a happy place for him to be with his family. And so he's very generous, very kind, funny, compassionate.

And people should really think about when they see President Donald Trump, they should think about all the places that he was and could be. All the things he could be doing. The political motivators for many typical politicians of which he's not one, Mercy, money, power, prestige, fame, he had all of that.

And he and his family have sacrificed mightily in those categories for him just to serve. And the idea that he is there because he wants to be there, because he believes in this country, he believes in its people. He believes in its promise, is very liberating and you see that when you're with him privately, you see it publicly. But I find him to be incredibly gracious, energetic, I mean the greatest compliment you can get from Donald Trump is not hey, that's brilliant or that was really smart or great job. It's you're really high energy.

Here's Conway appearing on "Hannity" Wednesday night:

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