Kellyanne Conway spent more than 11 minutes on Fox News Sunday today pretending not to know why anyone would think Donald Trump held up aid to Ukraine as part of a quid pro quo. “They got their aid and that's what's important,” she said, though she almost certainly knows better.
Host Chris Wallace did a good job dealing with Conway's pretense that there was nothing fishy going on with Trump's more-than-fishy behavior. Note that the aid was appropriated by Congress, not some pot of money Trump had the discretion to award or not. Also, Conway did not deny anything about the release of the aid, she merely suggested it did not prove anything.
WALLACE: Let's talk about the timeline for giving the aid. … The aid was held up all summer and it was finally released on September 11th - a month and a half ago. Here's the timing: Two days before, the inspector general informed the House Intelligence Committee about the whistleblower complaint [alleging Trump was pressuring Ukraine to do his political dirty work]. Kellyanne, the president didn't release the aid until the story was out.
CONWAY: You're trying to make that causation where it may be coincidence --
WALLACE: I find it an awfully interesting coincidence.
CONWAY: They got their aid and that's what's important –
No, that is not what is important. What's important is why the aid was blocked and then released, as Wallace tried to explain. Conway refused to listen.
WALLACE: No, no, no. But how the aid came out, it was held up all summer 'til the 11th of September and the only reason it came out was because --
CONWAY: No, don't say that. Don't go there.
WALLACE: It had already --
CONWAY: You have no idea that's why it was held up.
WALLACE: So you think it's a coincidence that the whistleblower complaint comes on the 9th and the aid is released on the 11th? You're suggesting that's a coincidence?
CONWAY: I'm suggesting that you don't know what you were just about to say to be true, that the only reason it came out was because two days before --
WALLACE: Do you know it's not true? Do you know it's not true?
Oops, Conway didn't want to go there. She suddenly tossed aside her concern for only stating what is known to be true in order to deflect, alleging that Rep. Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Committee chairman, “was colluding with the whistleblower, apparently.”
What Conway never did was provide a good explanation for Trump's improper withholding of aid as well as any explanation as to the timing of its release.
Watch Conway's malicious smile that was almost as bad as her alternative facts below, from the November 3, 2019 Fox News Sunday.
I hope Republicans in the Senate who vote against conviction will have to answer whether they would like to see this behavior repeated by the President with other countries (and also by future presidents). Would it rise to the level of impeachable offense if Trump tries to invite 3 foreign countries into our election, or 4 or 5?
This behavior is continuing and repetitive, first Russia, then Ukraine, maybe he’ll ask North Korea for help winning the election next.
● We do a lot for Ukraine
● There’s not much reciprocity
● I have a favor to ask
● Investigate my opponent
● My people will be in touch
● Nice country you got there. It would be a shame if Russia took the rest of it Foreign interference in elections has long been viewed as a threat to U.S. sovereignty and the integrity of democracy, and soliciting foreign help in an election is illegal.
