Kellyanne Conway challenges reporter who questioned Trump's tweet: 'What's your ethnicity?'
Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday lashed out at reporters who pressed her on President Trump’s tweets saying four Democratic congresswomen of color should “go back” to their home countries.
On Sunday, Trump stirred outrage on Twitter when he suggested that Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts should “go back” to their “broken and crime infested” countries. All of the women are U.S. citizens, and three of the four were born in the United States.
Conway, counselor to the president, claimed Trump was not suggesting the women return to their home countries.
She was then asked by Andrew Feinberg, a reporter for the website Beltway Breakfast, what countries Trump was referring to in his tweet.
“What’s your ethnicity?” Conway asked in response.
“Why is that relevant?” Feinberg replied. “My own ethnicity is not relevant.”
“No, no, it is,” Conway shot back. “Because he said ‘originally.’”
In truth, Trump never made that distinction.
Feinberg pressed Conway, who continued to deflect on behalf of her boss.
“He’s tired,” Conway said. “A lot of us are sick and tired of this country, of America coming last to people who swore an oath of office.
“... Tired of being criticized,” she continued, “being doxxed by a bunch of Hollywood D-listers who have nothing else to do but sit on their asses on Twitter all day.”
Feinberg himself later tweeted about the exchange.
JUST NOW: I asked @KellyannePolls, who’d just said @realDonaldTrump was not telling Omar/Tlaib/Pressley/AOC to go back to Somalia/Gaza/Puerto Rico/etc, which countries he was referring to.
She responded by asking me where my ancestors came from, thereby confirming what he meant— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 16, 2019
By asking about my ethnicity (a mix of 🇵🇱 🇱🇹 🇷🇺 and 🇱🇻, I’m told) in response to my question, @KellyannePolls inadvertently confirmed that @realDonaldTrump was telling @IlhanMN, @RashidaTlaib, @AOC, @AyannaPressley to return to Somalia, Gaza, Puerto Rico, and somewhere in Africa. https://t.co/0egLbFXILk
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 16, 2019
Feinberg also clarified that he did not believe Conway was being anti-Semitic. Conway thanked him for the clarification.
Thanks @AndrewFeinberg.
I’m fact, in that same gaggle, I made clear my outrage at the anti-Semitic comments flowing so easily out of @IlhanMN and how absurd it was that the House could not condemn her by name in a resolution in March.
☮️ https://t.co/vJG1nwUgNq— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) July 16, 2019
Conway also castigated the media for its coverage of the self-proclaimed “Squad,” who held a press conference on Tuesday to push back against Trump’s attack.
She said the media covered their event “like they were the Beatles in 1960.”
“Please march beyond these four people who hold press conferences in front of an adoring press,” Conway said. “Fact-check them. Stop being so gaga and besotted with people who got here a couple of months ago. A ‘Squad’ that hasn’t done squat except be on magazine covers.”
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Conway’s husband, conservative lawyer and persistent Trump critic George Conway, called Trump “a racist president.”
Appearing on Fox News earlier Tuesday, Kellyanne Conway was asked if she agreed with her husband’s view.
“I totally disagree,” Conway said. “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.”
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