United States: close advisor to Trump, Kellyanne Conway leaves the White House

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

Kellyanne Conway, a close advisor to President Donald Trump known for her heated exchanges with journalists, announced this Sunday that she was resigning to devote herself to her family.

Publicity

The 53-year-old communications advisor has been with Donald Trump from day one, leading the 2016 campaign that catapulted the billionaire to the White House. But the last four years spent fiercely defending the American president, especially on television, have come at a price for this combative woman who notably shaped and defended the concept of "  alternative facts  ".

Her husband, the conservative lawyer George Conway, is thus one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump , questioning his mental capacity to run the country. In a statement, Kellyanne Conway announced that she would leave the White House "  at the end of the month  ".

This decision "  is entirely my choice  ", she added, adding that she would announce her "  future plans in due course  ". “  George is also making changes. We have disagreements on a lot of things, but we are united on what matters most: children,  ”she added.

His daughter Claudia will ask to be emancipated

She indicated that their four children will be starting their academic year remotely. “  As millions of parents across the country know, homeschooling children require a level of attention and vigilance that is as unusual as this time we are living,  ” the elegant blonde said. . “  For now and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mom,  ” she added.

This announcement came the day after a tweet from her daughter Claudia, 15, who said she was "  devastated  " because her mother would speak at the Republican convention, and pledged to demand legal emancipation "  because of 'years of childhood trauma and abuse  '.

For his part, George Conway has announced that he will distance himself from the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group of Republicans he co-founded, and take a break from Twitter, which he frequently uses to attack the president. The animosity was mutual and Donald Trump even called him "  the husband of hell  ".

Escapades and blunders

Lawyer from a Catholic background, political consultant specializing in polls, Kellyanne Conway was generally believed to have largely contributed to the election of Donald Trump in 2016. She was illustrated by various blunders, such as this interview where she had awkwardly shaped and defended a concept of “  alternative facts  ”. Or when she appeared casually kneeling on a sofa in the Oval Office, keeping her shoes on, while the president entertained black academics.

She has also been criticized for referring in 2017 to a massacre that never took place in the United States, in a plea in favor of Donald Trump's anti-immigration decree.

Kellyanne Conway was known for her acrimonious dealings with the media. When she found herself in a delicate position, under the fire of questions from a particularly feverish press conference, she tended, like her boss, to opt for the attack, however in a more civil fashion.

In a somewhat conformist federal capital, the advisor also stood out with her sense of fashion and her colorful outfits. Sporting a dress in a snakeskin pattern, she can appear the next day in a bright red one.

( With Agency )

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• United States
• Donald trump