Presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway may be leaving her job at the end of the week, but she is still very hard at work at creating headlines.
This time, it's for angrily lashing out at a CNN reporter for stating a simple fact: that the Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered two people during protests in the city, was a Trump supporter.
The comments came during a press conference at the White House today.
Kellyanne Conway snaps at reporter for asking about Kyle Rittenhouseyoutu.be
The contentious back-and-forth occurred when CNN reporter Joe Johns referred to the Kenosha gunman, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, as a Trump supporter. Rittenhouse was seen on the front row of a Trump rally in Des Moines earlier this year.
Rittenhouse murdered two people this week during unrest that erupted in Kenosha in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man who the police fired upon seven times.
Johns asked if the President had any intention of addressing his supporters in the wake of several incidents of violence in recent years.
"Is the president calling on his supporters in Kenosha — people like Kyle Rittenhouse — to stop the violence?"
And Conway did not at all appreciate the line of questioning.
"The president wants everybody to stop the violence. And I know you're trying to conflate that individual with President Trump and you really shouldn't do that. Just like CNN shouldn't have had a chyron last night that said 'mostly peaceful protests' with fire in the background."
"So, that's pretty offensive, Joe."
Johns continued to press Conway to address the very real problem of Trump-aligned citizens inciting violence.
"What about vigilantes? Come on. What about people who are out in the streets, who are supporters of the president?"
Once again, Conway declined to answer the question, turning it around on Johns.
"Why are you talking about who they may vote for? Why are you trying to incite more trouble?"
When Johns attempted again to point out the problem of violent Trump-supporting individuals and groups, Conway deflected, talking instead about a shooting three years ago carried out by a registered Democrat
"Should we talk about the lunatic who shot up Steve Scalise and a bunch of other members of Congress three years ago?"
On Twitter, people were astonished at Conway's obtuseness.
Conway also took time to tell Johns that the President is on the side of the police and reiterated Vice President Mike Pence's call to "defend the police" during his Republican National Convention speech.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads