White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Friday vehemently denied bullying and verbally abusing Washington Examiner reporter Caitlin Yilek, despite threatening to delve into the journalist’s life over an article mentioning Conway’s husband’s spat with President Trump.
According to the Washington Examiner, Conway called Yilek Tuesday night without taking the conversation off the record.
“No, of course not. What I said is there for everybody to listen to,” Conway told Fox News when asked if she had mistreated the reporter. “A lot of reporters, particularly old school reporters, have read it and contacted me and they have a very different opinion — that screed.”
In a statement Thursday, Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon wrote that off-the-record conversations are “not blanket coverage to shield people who pull a bait and switch.”
Conway appeared to respond to Gurdon’s statement by arguing how she “already disabused everybody of what he said.”
“I never commented on that one way or the other. Everything I said in that phone call I’ve said publicly before. Every single thing — I said it again,” Conway told Fox, before once again criticizing the reporter she spoke to. “You are writing about somebody else’s — you’re derivatively reporting what somebody else wrote, which the President denounced in a tweet, debunked in a tweet, and then you are lazily covering somebody’s tweet on something that happened seven months ago so I asked her a question. “
When pressed on whether she regrets anything about the way she handled the situation, Conway said “it wasn’t important to me.”
“I never said if [the phone call with Yilek] was on or off the record because I don’t care,” Conway said. “She must have thought it was off the record because the reporter then says would you like to put any of this on the record? So they aren’t even paying attention.”
Conway then urged everyone to go to her Twitter account to read her full statement on the matter rather than the transcript that “got 15 minutes of fame” and “some clicks and kicks.”
“Everyone should go to my Twitter @kellyannepolls and read my entire statement in full, recognize I didn’t say anything in that phone call I haven’t said publicly before, but focus on what I did say there,” Conway said.
Read Conway’s statement below:
The false tweet below makes my point about how dangerous it is to characterize someone else’s intentions, feelings, or state of mind, even if it’s for clicks and kicks. https://t.co/v6df2aoU3T pic.twitter.com/B3Qzzra0uW
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) October 24, 2019
Conway added that she and her husband George “agree on many big things” as well as “disagree on many big things.”
“None of that affects my job here and exactly none of that is anybody’s business,” Conway said. “There is my message again. I think that people constantly covering that is lazy and it doesn’t add to the conversation. So that’s all I asked her.”
Watch Conway’s remarks below:
Conway denies bullying Washington Examiner reporter pic.twitter.com/7HmifkWb5M
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 25, 2019
