Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway defended a few of her boss’ recent decisions Wednesday, saying President Donald Trump “has tremendous moral standards.”
Here are five of the standout moments from her interview with “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo.
1. During a back-and-forth on Trump’s endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, Conway responded to questioning from Cuomo about whether Trump’s position is one of “political pragmatism” by saying, “The President has tremendous moral standards.” She said the White House and Trump find the allegations that Moore pursued sexual relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s “troubling,” but remarked that the alleged incidents took place decades ago.
She outlined the President’s past statements, saying, “Nobody came forward before. The guy’s been on the ballot many times.”
Conway said Trump’s reasoning for backing the accused man is that he “doesn’t want a liberal Democrat representing Alabama in the United States Senate.”
Conway’s appearance on “New Day” came two days after one of the women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct appeared on the same show to restate her allegations of groping.
2. The President’s counselor sparred with Cuomo on the GOP tax plan. After she noted how the millions of women who own small businesses would benefit from the tax plan, the CNN anchor questioned her views.
“Now you want to fight for women?” Cuomo asked. “You’re endorsing Roy Moore but now you want to hold women up on a pedestal.”
Conway fired back: “I fight for women every day here. It’s why I’m here. I fight for the forgotten man and the forgotten woman. I fight for the people I grew up around, who live paycheck to paycheck, who are white-knuckled at the end of every month to pay their rent and their mortgage, their tuition or their student loan voucher.”
3. While talking about taxes, Conway observed, “The tax code is longer than the Bible and not quite as inspirational. It needs to be simplified.”
She and Cuomo couldn’t agree about how the bill would affect different segments of the population.
“(The middle class is) not getting as good of treatment as the upper tier and this was sold as advantaging them,” Cuomo said.
“Their taxes have been steadily going up,” Conway defended. “They’ve been paying for out-of-control spending. They’ve been paying higher taxes.”
A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday showed that only 29% of Americans approve of the GOP tax plan.
4. Conway broke a little news when she announced, “The President of the United States and Governor (Mitt) Romney spoke, I don’t know, 10 hours ago, less than 12 hours ago.” She said that the two Republicans, who have often disagreed, have a “great relationship.”
On Monday, after Trump publicly backed Republican candidate Moore, Romney tweeted, “No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.” Tuesday night, top Trump ally Steve Bannon used a rally for Moore to lash out at the 2012 GOP Republican nominee, saying he “hid behind” his Mormon faith to avoid military service in Vietnam.
In the late 1960s, Romney, who is a Mormon, served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two and a half years. Trump also sought deferments and did not serve in Vietnam.
5. Conway also spoke about Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. “The difference between President Trump and past presidents, because they’ve all promised the same thing with respect to moving the embassy to Jerusalem, is that this president actually will do it,” she said about the controversial move.
Major US allies have raised concerns about Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and even the Pope has cautioned against it. Pope Francis made a “heartfelt appeal to make everyone’s commitment to respect the status quo of the city, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.”
Conway explained that previous administrations had said they would move the embassy but never followed through.
“What reason did they offer for not doing it?” questioned Cuomo. “National security concerns. Nobody has an embassy in Jerusalem.”
