One day after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called CNN correspondent Jim Acosta a “smartass,” she warned reporters that the next one who bullies her will get the same treatment.
“I am watching,” she said on C-SPAN, telling host Steve Scully, “I’m just not going to be bullied and insulted. And it’s that simple. So if somebody tries it again, you know I never draw first blood, I’m very nice, let the record reflect that I’ve been nicer to people than they are to me during our tenure at the White House, but if anybody bullies me again, they can expect the same kind of treatment.”
.@KellyannePolls on Jim @Acosta: “I’ll be darned if I’m go to sit down and take it and be bullied by someone who’s known for it.”
Listen to complete @cspanRadio @SteveScully interview on #WashingtonToday at 5:25pm ET. https://t.co/5iHoQlDx51 pic.twitter.com/c9C6382hig
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 9, 2019
On Tuesday, when conducting an impromptu briefing with reporters on President Trump’s planned immigration address from the Oval Office, Acosta asked, “Can you promise that the president will tell the truth tonight? Will he tell the truth?”
HEATED EXCHANGE: Kellyanne Conway blasts CNN’s ‘smartass’ Jim Acosta after he asked “can you promise the president will tell the truth tonight?” pic.twitter.com/sYtEPFaa6a
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 8, 2019
Conway said, “Yes, Jim. Can you promise that you will? The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Am I allowed to mention ‘God’ to you?”
Conway told C-SPAN’s Scully that it was just the latest example of being asked insulting questions unprovoked.
“I suck it up and swallow hard many times when I am insulted because of where I work. And I work for the country I love that has given me and the single mom who raised me so much that I’m happy to give back in my modest way through my service here,” she said.
“But I’ll be darned if I’m going to sit down and take it and be bullied by someone who’s known for it,” Conway added of Acosta, who tussled recently with the president in a press conference.
She added that in insulting her, the nation is insulted, and called on the media to treat her like any source.
“I don’t need a reporter to then get in my face and be personal and insulting to my boss or to me by extension to the country. Ask a legitimate question, ask a wise question instead of giving a wise crack, and you’ll get an intelligent question,” said Conway, who has been well-known and liked by the media for years.
Conway said that the media bullying and rude comments directed at her are also seen by her family, and she uses it as a teaching moment.
“I show respect to and engagement with the press writ large, and I’m just going to look past the personal slights like I always do. But I am watching and I do see what people write and my children do hear what they say, and I try to explain to them, ‘Just don’t be a miserable person.’ That’s not about any one reporter, including that one for sure. Be the bigger person, don’t be a miserable one, work hard,” is the lesson, she said.
