A top Republican lawyer finds George Conway’s group of conservative attorneys for speaking out against the Trump administration to be repugnant.
“I find the underlying premise of the group rather offensive,” Leonard Leo told Axios in a report published Sunday. “The idea that somehow they need to have this voice because conservatives are somehow afraid to talk about the rule of law during the Trump administration.”
“And my response to that is, no, people aren’t afraid, many people just don’t agree that there’s a constitutional crisis and don’t agree with the people who have signed up with this group,” Leo added, making the comments in a personal capacity rather than as the right-leaning Federalist Society’s executive vice president.
Last week it was revealed that Conway had marshaled like-minded lawyers to form a group known as “Checks and Balances” who chime in whenever the Trump administration challenges constitutional norms.
Conway, an old friend of Leo’s and husband to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, has been a vocal critic of Trump, despite his wife’s high-profile role within the administration. George Conway has criticized Trump for his positions on the Federal Election Commission to birthright citizenship and his treatment of fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He last week likened the White House to “a shit show in a dumpster fire.”
Leo, who has closely advised Trump on his slew of judicial nominations, said Sunday that the president should be judged on his actions rather than “his off-the-cuff comments, tweets or statements.”
“He can say what he wants to say, but at the end of the day, words don’t threaten the rule of law, actions do,” Leo said. “I’ve been to 48 countries around the world. I know a constitutional crisis, and I know what a rule of law crisis is. Lots of countries have them. This country doesn’t right now.”
