Appearing on Monday’s Good Morning America following ABC’s exclusive Sunday night interview with former FBI Director James Comey, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway took anchor George Stephanopoulos to task for allowing Comey a “free political commercial” to encourage Americans to vote President Trump out of office.
After Stephanopoulos asked if the President had watched the interview, Conway began ripping Comey for his “really gutter” personal attacks against Trump, “to talk about the size of his hands and length of his tie.” She then pointed to “the fact that Mr. Comey admitted to you that he allowed polling and politics to influence his decision” in the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as evidence of why he was fired by the President last year.
“He admitted to you he purposely leaked information to a friend so that it would get into the media and trigger a special counsel. This guy swung an election. He thought the wrong person would win,” she added.
Scolding Stephanopoulos, Conway declared: “And now, at the end of your interview, George, he gave a free political commercial, telling people to go out there and vote against the President and his interests.”
She lambasted Comey’s performance: “I think he struggled to answer basic questions and he looked a little shaky.”
Minutes later, Conway concluded:
This man, Jim Comey, loves to be within the proximity of power. He loves having dinner alone with the President. If he hadn’t, he should have invited someone or asked who else was going to be there. He loved being along in the Oval Office, he wanted a piece of it. He loved being in the proximity of power until he got fired and then wrote a book.
Reiterating that Comey leaked information about his meetings with the President, she asked: “Why does The New York Times have a right to get the leaked information and not the House – the House committees who represent all of us?”
Here are excerpts of the April 16 exchange:
7:10 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s get more now from the counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, she joins us live from the White House this morning. Kellyanne, thank you for joining us this morning.
KELLYANNE CONWAY: Hi, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We saw a lot from the President on Twitter before the James Comey interview. Did he watch last night? What’s his reaction?
CONWAY: I spoke with the President before the interview and the President reminded me that Jim Comey said publicly that he felt nervous before he met the President, admitted that to you. What we don’t understand is why, if you’re going to meet the President of the United States, the President-Elect, you’re not saying, “My ticker list is I’ve got to tell him about the Russian interference, I must tell him about the investigations that are ongoing.” Instead he takes time to talk about the size of his hands and length of his tie. That’s really gutter.
And the fact that Mr. Comey admitted to you that he allowed polling and politics to influence his decision is much why Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, in a scathing memo on May 9th, and others, other former attorneys general had called for Mr. Comey to step aside because they felt like he can no longer hold up the values of the FBI.
He admitted to you he purposely leaked information to a friend so that it would get into the media and trigger a special counsel. This guy swung an election. He thought the wrong person would win. His people in his household wanted the other person to win. And now, at the end of your interview, George, he gave a free political commercial, telling people to go out there and vote against the President and his interests.
I think he struggled to answer basic questions and he looked a little shaky. He also – I really was very struck that when he was meeting with the President, it’s three very limited meetings with the President of the United States, I thought to myself, “You waited two months as the FBI director to go and meet with the President-Elect and then you waited nearly a year to tell the country what was on your mind.” If he really felt like he was saving the country rather than selling books why did he wait until an interview with you, not under oath, and selling a book not under oath?
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CONWAY: This man, Jim Comey, loves to be within the proximity of power. He loves having dinner alone with the President. If he hadn’t, he should have invited someone or asked who else was going to be there. He loved being along in the Oval Office, he wanted a piece of it. He loved being in the proximity of power until he got fired and then wrote a book.
And let’s be very honest. These are high-stakes issues that are going on. This is somebody who admitted to you last night that he leaked information that – the House investigators are looking for those memos. Why does The New York Times have a right to get the leaked information and not the House – the House committees who represent all of us? What’s fair is fair.
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