Kellyanne Conway dodges questions on Mike Flynn as White House touts 100-days record
As President Trump’s administration touts its accomplishments and downplays its failures in the chaotic first 100 days, counselor Kellyanne Conway dodged questions Wednesday on one of the administration’s more significant controversies: the appointment and subsequent ouster of Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn.
After contending that “it’s not for me to say” whether Flynn was adequately vetted before his appointment as national security adviser, Conway appeared to attempt to downplay Flynn’s role. She argued in an interview with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric that Trump is ultimately the person in charge of the National Security Council and pointed to his missile strikes against a Syrian air base as proof of his decisiveness.
When asked directly whether appointing Flynn was a mistake, Conway repeated, “It’s not for me to say.”
On whether Trump would now concede that the appointment was a mistake, Conway was curt.
“I won’t comment on that,” she said. “It’s a personnel decision for the president. I won’t comment on that.”
Flynn resigned his post after it was revealed that he discussed lifting Obama-era sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He reportedly mischaracterized those discussions to Vice President Mike Pence, who then publicly insisted that sanctions had not been discussed.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, made waves Tuesday when he announced, “There was nothing in the data to show that General Flynn complied with the law” when he received tens of thousands of dollars from Russia for consulting work.
Asked what the low point of the first 100 days has been, Conway acknowledged that it was the GOP’s failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The bill was abruptly pulled from a vote after it failed to gain sufficient support in the House, but Conway pointed to the revised bill’s revival with the support of the Freedom Caucus, which was responsible, in part, for the legislation’s failure the first time around.
“It’s probably when we could not vote on the first health care legislation, and fortunately many of the groups and many of the members who were against that particular piece of legislation are now coming out for the new and improved legislation.”
Throughout the interview, Conway played up Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court as an example of an early victory for the Trump administration. She pointed out that Trump is the first president since 1881 to confirm a Supreme Court justice in the first 100 days of his presidency.
This accomplishment may look greater on paper than in reality: Most presidents don’t enter office with a vacancy on the high court to fill. Gorsuch’s seat was held vacant for over a year as Senate Republicans refused to hold confirmation hearings for former President Barack Obama’s high court nominee, Merrick Garland.
Andrew Hamm, the manager of SCOTUSblog, told Yahoo News that Conway’s claim was correct. A Supreme Court justice confirmation within the first 100 days has occurred only four other times in U.S. history, with all of those involving inherited vacancies. Only two presidents who entered office with a vacant seat on the court were not able to have a justice confirmed within the first 100 days.
