Asked after Sunday night’s presidential debate if she would stay with the Donald Trump campaign “until the bitter end,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews she would.
“Unless…”
And then, Conway stopped. It was an undeniably odd moment.
Then, she started up again: “I’m sitting here as his campaign manager. I’m sitting here with you in the debate hall where he performed beautifully,” she said.
After unaired tape from a 2005 taping of “Access Hollywood” was leaked to the media Friday, revealing that Trump said he could kiss and grope women without their permission because he was a celebrity, rumors swirled about Conway’s status with the campaign.
Conway leaving that “unless” hanging after Sunday’s debate, though she later clarified, seemed only to add to speculation that she senses more damaging tapes of Trump may be on their way.
“You’re worried about more shoes dropping?” Matthews asked.
“I didn’t say that. No, no, no. I’ve made a commitment,” Conway said, seemingly shaken. “And I believe that he will be a much better president.”
The network cut away from Conway, but the MSNBC panel watching the exchange from New York immediately wrangled her again for clarification. Conway seemed to acknowledge the pause, but blamed the media for reading too much into such moments.
“I didn’t mean to alert the breaking news again, Rachel,” she told Rachel Maddow. “The ‘unless’ is simple. It’s unless someone in my household needs me or unless something changes in my own life.”
“I have to say,” she said in response to another question about her pause, “I think that whoever was breaking the news today on MSNBC that I was resigning while I was getting on the plane with Mr. and Mrs. Trump to come here should do a better job checking the facts.”
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