Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) called the comments “appalling.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said they were “just plain wrong.” Even Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade thought Trump “blew it.”
And yet Kellyanne Conway had no problem with President Trump openly mocking Christine Blasey Ford at a rally in Mississippi last night.
Conway, who last month said the first woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault “should not be insulted,” went on Fox News Wednesday to defend the president’s imitation of Dr. Ford.
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Asked by Fox’s Bill Hemmer if Trump’s comments were “wrong” or “unnecessary” Conway first insisted how “incredibly accommodating” the White House and Senate Judiciary Committee have been towards Ford.
“She provided her testimony, she still has no corroboration for her testimony,” Conway, who this past weekend opened up about her own experience as a “victim of sexual assault,” added. “The president is pointed out factual inconsistencies,” she added. “By Ford’s own testimony, there are gaps in her memory, there are facts that she cannot remember.”
During his rally Tuesday night, the crowd cheered as Trump listed off these supposed “inconsistencies,” saying, “What neighborhood was it in? ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know.’ Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? ‘I don’t know. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.’”
“If those that are pretending that they want to find the truth don’t fess up and say, ‘Well, we can’t find the truth when she doesn’t know all the facts,’ that is part of the testimony that she put in under sworn statements,” Conway said, continuing to sow doubt about her story.
While the Fox News hosts did not press Conway to defend the tone of Trump’s mockery, she did face tougher questioning from reporters outside of the White House. Asked if it was acceptable for the president to “openly mock” Ford, Conway shot back, “I see that is the lemming-like word you’re all using together here, but let’s be fair.”
“She’s been treated like a Fabergé egg by all of us, beginning with me and Trump,” she added, indicating that the White House will not be hesitating to take a rougher approach moving forward.
