Kellyanne Conway: We're forced to talk about Hillary, whom we never mention

After claiming to CNN on Wednesday that “nobody” in the White House talks about Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s special counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox Thursday that administration officials discuss Trump’s vanquished 2016 election opponent because they are forced to.

“I know people love to talk about how we’re so obsessed with Hillary Clinton here,” Conway said on “Fox & Friends.” “The fact is, we only have to talk about her because people won’t let go of an election that she lost miserably.”

In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night, Conway insisted Clinton is never discussed in the West Wing.

“We don’t care about her. Nobody here talks about her,” Conway said. “Nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton, I promise you.”

Conway’s claim came just hours after Trump brought up Clinton multiple times, unprompted, at the White House during a joint news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

Trump suggested that, despite the conclusion by American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to tip the contest in his favor, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have preferred a Clinton victory.

“I am for massive oil and gas and everything else and a lot of energy,” he said. “Putin can’t love that. I am for the strongest military that the United States ever had. Putin can’t love that. Hillary was not for a strong military, and Hillary — my opponent — was for windmills.”

Related: Trump calls interview with special counsel ‘unlikely’

The president brought up Clinton again when asked if he would agree to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller his investigation of Russia’s attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential elections — something Trump said seven months ago that he was willing to do. This time, Trump responded by criticizing the FBI’s handling of its 2016 interview with Clinton in its probe of her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

“When you talk about interviews, Hillary Clinton had an interview where she wasn’t sworn in, she wasn’t given the oath, they didn’t take notes, they didn’t record and it was done on the Fourth of July weekend,” Trump said. “That’s, perhaps, ridiculous, and a lot of people looked upon that as being a very serious breach.”

Clinton is also a frequent topic of Trump’s tweets. The Washington Post points out that since taking office, Trump has tweeted about Clinton or “Crooked Hillary” about 70 times.

He did so again on Thursday morning.

“Disproven and paid for by Democrats ‘Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?’” the president tweeted, quoting a “Fox & Friends” segment. “Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess!”

Conway, for her part, tweeted a clip from her appearance on Trump’s favorite morning show.

“My full interview this morning on @foxandfriends, by far the highest-rated cable news morning show. #facts,” she tweeted.

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