Donald Trump’s campaign manager acknowledged Thursday that she reprimanded the Republican presidential nominee over his past comments on women.
Kellyanne Conway was responding to a question on ABC’s “The View” about Trump’s criticism of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
“Did you reprimand him for that? Did you say, ‘Hey listen, why are you saying women are fat? Why are you calling women fat pigs?'” host Joy Behar asked.
“Yes, but I think it’s beside the point,” Conway responded, declining to provide further details. “He gave that particular woman a second chance. The company involved wanted her terminated … because she was in breach of contract and the company wanted her terminated. But he gave her a second chance.”
Conway was referencing accusations that Machado, who is from Venezuela and supports Hillary Clinton for president, has made about Trump, including a claim that after she gained weight in 1996, Trump called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.”
“(Trump) has also said publicly, I think last night, he’s talked to (Machado) very briefly over a number of years, almost 20 years ago,” Conway responded. “She obviously has a troubled past that I won’t get into.”
Conway also defended Trump’s comments and past behavior toward women — a vulnerable voting bloc for him — specifically with his comments toward Clinton during the first presidential debate on Monday.
“I thought he was a complete gentleman to her and he hasn’t gotten a lot of credit for that. At the beginning, he said very graciously, ‘Secretary Clinton,’ and then he said, ‘May I call you Secretary Clinton?’ and she sort of looked and he said, ‘I want you be happy, that’s very important to me.'” Conway said.
“At the end of the night, after she hit him with some very negative attacks, he said to her, ‘I came in here ready to play rough and say some things about you but I won’t do it because your family is here. But I’d appreciate if you stop running all these negative ads about me,'” Conway continued. “So I don’t think he gets credit for restraint, and restraint is a virtue, in fact is a presidential virtue.”
When Conway was asked about Trump’s remarks after the debate about his decision to not bring up Bill Clinton’s past infidelities, Conway responded she’s not advising him to “go there.”
But, she said, “It’s fair game to think about how Hillary Clinton treated those women after the fact. The thing about Donald Trump that I hope you would all give credence to is he is surrounded by strong women. He has employed thousands and thousands of women over the years.”
