White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defended President Trump against charges of racism Tuesday but was criticized herself for saying four nonwhite congresswomen represent “a very dark element” in the country.
Conway said four Democrats attacked by Trump in recent tweets — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — were emblematic of a deeper problem.
“Not just those four, please. They just represent a very dark element in this country that seems to not respect the military, not respect the veterans, not vote for humanitarian aid. Why is that?” Conway told reporters on the White House driveway.
A reporter asked, “Is that language in and of itself offensive, a ‘dark element’?”
Conway pivoted to another reporter.
Moments earlier, Conway said in a Fox News interview, “these four, they represent a dark underbelly in this country of people who are not respecting our troops, are not giving them the resources and the respect that they deserve.”
Kellyanne Conway says The Squad, a group of Democratic congresswomen of color, “represent a dark underbelly of this country” pic.twitter.com/N1JoiC9NdG
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 16, 2019
Addressing reporters, the senior adviser and 2016 Trump campaign chairwoman pushed back on criticism of Trump’s weekend tweet, which told the four congresswomen to “go back” to their “original” countries, despite 3 of the 4 being born in the United States. Conway’s husband George called the remark racist in a Monday op-ed in the Washington Post, recalling his mother (who was born in the Philippines) being told to return to her country.
His wife defended Trump. “I have never ever heard that man say anything untoward based on race in my experience,” she said.
Conway told reporters Trump was not making an assumption that the left-wing lawmakers were foreign-born because of their race.
“What’s your ethnicity?” Conway asked a white journalist who asked which countries Trump had in mind.
In a fiery exchange, Conway noted that Democrats had criticized the four lawmakers before Trump launched his weekend attack, and she accused reporters of being afraid to correct “lies” from the group, including an allegation that detained migrants were being forced to drink from toilets.
“Stop being so gaga and besotted with people that got here a couple of months ago: a squad that hasn’t done squat except be on magazine covers, except cause trouble and incur the ire of a lot of senior Democratic officials,” Conway said.
