Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday that voters should not elect Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat running against Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate, because he’ll try to raise their taxes.
Conway would not endorse Moore’s candidacy directly. ‘I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,’ she said on Fox & Friends after co-host Brian Kilmeade asked her if the message was ‘vote Roy Moore.’
Asked by Kilmeade a second time, she pivoted and said: ‘If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that’s what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians. He wouldn’t be here on Capitol Hill. He still has his job.’
Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House’s position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat. Sanders said that was not the White House’s position, regardless of what Conway said.
Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday that voters should not elect Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat running against Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate, because he’ll try to raise their taxes
Conway would not endorse Moore’s candidacy directly. ‘I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,’ she said on Fox & Friends
Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if the message was ‘vote Roy Moore,’ Conway said: ‘If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that’s what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians’
‘We feel the people of Alabama should make the determination of who their next senator should be,’ she said, adding, after the reporter pushed back, ‘I’m giving you the answer, the position of the White House.’
Sanders refused to take a position on efforts to mount a write-in campaign for the position, making a similar claim about the right of the people to do decide, and revealed that Trump has not spoken to Moore since the first set of allegations were published.
Asked if the president wants Moore to win the race, Sanders invoked a political rule that prohibits some employees in the executive branch from engaging in political activity while they’re on duty.
‘Look, obviously the president wants people within the House and the Senate who support his agenda, but as I’ve said and as the Hatch Act prohibits me from going any further,’ she said. ‘We certainly think this is something that the people of Alabama should decide, and I’m not going to be able to weigh in on anything further beyond those comments.’
Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House’s position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat. Sanders said that was not the White House’s position
Earlier, on Fox & Friends, Conway deflected when she was asked about Moore and brought up Franken and Sen. Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat whose corruption case ended in a mistrial last week, and asked why he gets to return to Washington.
Conway also launched an assault on Jones in a shift away from the president’s statement last week, through Sanders, that the people of Alabama should decide who represents them in the Senate.
That was the line Sanders used several times last Thursday as she was pressed to explain President Donald Trump’s position on Moore, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama who has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct toward teenage girls.
‘Look, the President believes that these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously, and he thinks that the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be,’ Sanders said.
After she was specifically asked if Moore should stay in the Senate race that will be decided next month, Sanders said last week that the president’s position remains the same as it did when the accusations surfaced.
‘If the allegations are true, then that Roy Moore should step aside,’ Sanders said.
Conway tore down Jones, the Democrat in the race, on Monday, greasing the skids for Moore, or some other Republican, to win the Dec. 12 special election in Alabama
Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are openly pondering the possibility of a write-in campaign to elect someone else to the position such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sessions vacated the seat to join the Trump administration earlier this year, setting off the Dec. 12 special election.
At her briefing on Monday, Sanders would not say whether the president would support a campaign to write in Sessions or Luther Strange, a Republican appointed to fill the seat until such time that someone is elected that Trump supported in the GOP primary.
‘We support the people of Alabama making the decision on who their next senator should be,’ she said.
When Conway tore down Jones, the Democrat in the race, on Monday, she greased the skids for Moore, or some other Republican, to win.
‘He will be a vote against tax cuts,’ she said. ‘He is terrible for property owners.’
She told Alabama voters ‘don’t be fooled’ by Jones, calling him ‘weak’ on crime and borders and ‘strong’ on raising taxes.
‘So vote Roy Moore,’ Kilmeade asked her?
She replied: ‘Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he is not saying anything, and why the media are trying to boost him.’
Kilmeade asked her the question again, and she brought up Franken, a Democrat representing Minnesota in the Senate.
Franken apologized last week for a photo in which he could be seen smiling and putting his hands over radio host Leeann Tweeden’s breasts while she slept. He is now expected to come under investigation by the Senate ethics committee.
‘He wouldn’t be here on Capitol Hill. He still has his job,’ Conway said Monday on Fox, making reference this this photo of Franken putting his hands on a radio host’s breasts while she slept that was released last week
Kilmeade rebutted Conway with the Republican National Committee’s withdrawn support for Moore.
Many women are backing away from him, too, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt chimed in.
‘Right,’ Conway responded. ‘And you know what, I just want everybody to know, Doug Jones, nobody ever says his name and pretends he is some kind of conservative Democrat in Alabama. And he’s not.’
Fox and Friends’ Steve Doocy interrupted Conway to ask if Trump would be traveling to Alabama to campaign for Moore, and she acknowledged, ‘There is no plan to do that.’
‘The president is going to continue traveling around the country on tax cuts and other issues, yes,’ she said.