The main woman of the White House

All about Kellien Konway, the brightest defender of the Trump administration

There are almost no women in the Donald Trump team, but one of them, Kellien Konway, became perhaps the most noticeable representative of his administration in the short period of the billionaire in the White House. Konway holds the post of adviser to the President of the United States and regularly answers the White House to questions from journalists; Sometimes it seems that it is she, and not the spokesman for Sean Spicer, who works as an official representative of Trump. Konway is the author of the term “alternative facts”; This phrase now describes inaccurate information that the White House regularly spreads. "Medusa" tells what you need to know about Kellien Konway.

Kellien Konway is 50 years old, she is from New Jersey. Kelliann grew up in a Catholic family with Irish and Italian roots; She received a bachelor's degree of political science, and then a doctor of jurisprudence. For some time, Konway worked in court, and then took up sociological surveys, and so successfully that in 1995 she founded her own research company The Polling Company. The company investigated the preferences of the women's audience - by order of products manufacturers for women and politicians. Among her customers are the current vice president Mike Pence, a former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and other influential Republicans.

In the mid-1990s, Konway began to often appear on television-TV presenter Bill Mar invited her to his political show Politically Incorrect. Mar, as the New Yorker writes , called Kellien "our blonde-republican." At the same time, Konway cursed with Mar because of his criticism of the Catholic Church-and even refused to come to the program.

Konway loves to tell that she grew up among women (her mother and grandmother were raised; Kellien's parents divorced when she was three years old) - and understands what they need. In 2005, she wrote the book “What Women really want”; It refers to the role of women in modern American society. However, Konway adheres to conservative views: she is a consistent opponent of abortion (although it does not condemn women who decided to terminate pregnancy), her company made surveys by order of organizations requiring an abortion ban.

Her husband Kelliann George Konway (the couple got married in 2001, they have four children) - a lawyer who participated in an attempt to impeach Bill Clinton. Konway, in particular, was preparing a request to the Supreme Court regarding the Jones Falm, the former employee of the Arkansas administration, who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment - this episode dates back to 1991, when Clinton was the governor of Arkansas (the case did not end; Clinton paid compensation). It was during this process that President Bill Clinton lied that he had no relationship with Monica Levinsky, which was the reason for the failed impeachment in 1998. At that time, George Konway was not yet familiar with his future wife.

Before starting to work with Trump, Kellien Konway advocated mitigation of migration legislation, which not only contradicts the views of the 45th President of the United States, but also differs from the usual discourse of the Republicans. She did not support Trump either: until June 2016, Konway worked for Republican Ted Cruz, and agreed to cooperate with the billionaire only after her candidate left the race. At the headquarters of Trump Konway received the post of manager of the election campaign; Before her, the campaigns of candidates for US President from the Republican Party have never been led by women.

Konway met Trump at the beginning of the zero - Kellien and her husband owned an apartment in one of the billionaire houses. In 2013, Konway was preparing a survey for Trump when he reflected on the nomination of New York to the governors. A survey conducted by Konway predicted a defeat - but there was no this data in the final presentation. In the end, Trump decided not to advance: according to Konway, the advisers told the billionaire that if he wants to occupy the state post, it is better to start from the White House.

Soon after the victory in the election of US President Trump, Kelliann suggested “any post she likes,” and she chose the position of adviser. She is called the most influential woman in the Trump administration, where almost all important posts are given to white men. It is believed that it was Konway that helped choose the future Secretary of State of the United States. This post was claimed by the former presidential candidate Mitt Romny, Konway publicly criticized him and accused him of betrayal (Trump, according to rumors , was extremely unhappy); As a result, the head of Exxonmobil Rex Tillerson was received by the Secretary of State.

At his post in the White House, Konway is actively communicating with the press and protects the administration of Trump. She became famous a few days after the inauguration, when she tried to defend the correctness of the press secretary of Trump Sean Spicer. On January 22, 2016, NBC Konai said that the exaggerated data of Spice about the number of people who came to the inauguration of Trump is not a lie, but “alternative facts” . The phrase Konway became the meme and symbol of the new administration of the White House. The conversation Konway with a journalist on the same air NBC clearly demonstrates her manner of staying in public: she is aggressive, instead of answering the question, often attacks the press or democrats, she is well aware of the mistakes of opponents.

Konway herself also used “alternative facts”. By defending the appropriateness and legality of the anti-immigration decree of Trump, the White House adviser reminded reporters of “Boyne in Bowling Grin”, although there was no massacre in any Bowling-Grin in the history of the United States. Konway had in mind that US President Barack Obama also introduced similar prohibitions, for example, after the detention of two refugees from Iraq in 2011, who were accused of relations with Al-Keda-but the Iraqis did not even plan any terrorist attacks and, apparently, did not even plan. Konway later apologized and said that she simply made a reservation, but she admitted similar reservations in two more interviews.

The last incident in which Trump adviser participated is associated with the US President's family. On February 9, on the air of Fox News, Kellien Konway stood up for the daughter of the American president Ivanka Trump - some supermarkets refused to sell clothes that Ivanka Trump Collection produced. “That's what I will tell you: go to buy Ivanka's things. This is a great collection. I have several things. I will advertise them for free: go and buy everything today, ”she said.

In the draft adviser to the US president to buy products belonging to the daughter of the US President, it is difficult not to see a conflict of interest. Konway's words caused a negative reaction both among her political opponents and among the Republicans. The White House has not yet given any assessment of the incident.

Pavel Borisov