The husband of White House aide Kellyanne Conway, who himself was reportedly considered for two administration jobs, wrote Monday that President Donald Trump’s tweets about his travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries would make it difficult for the government to defend the ban in court.
George Conway, who recently withdrew himself from consideration to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, criticized the President’s assertion on Twitter that “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.”
“These tweets may make some ppl feel better,” Conway wrote. “[B]ut they certainly won’t help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters. Sad.”
These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly won't help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters. Sad. https://t.co/zVhcyfm8Hr
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
“OSG” is shorthand for the Office of the Solicitor General, which argues on the government’s behalf before the Supreme Court. Though Conway has not responded to TPM’s questions about the statement, the Washington Post’s Matt Zapotosky reported that Conway had confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to him in an email.
Yes. I asked him via his firm email address.
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) June 5, 2017
Conway himself was at one point reportedly under consideration to become Trump’s solicitor general. Trump ultimately nominated Noel Francisco for the job.
On Thursday, the DOJ asked the Supreme Court to temporarily reinstate Trump’s travel ban as it works its way through appeals courts.
Trump has repeatedly argued for the ban in the days following a terrorist attack in London on Saturday.
Later on Monday, Conway kept tweeting:
Very good analysis. https://t.co/7GJxPrfnLS
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
1) Just to be clear, and in response to inquiries, I still VERY, VERY STRONGLY support POTUS, his Admin, policies, the executive order …
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
2) … and of course, my wonderful wife. Which is why I said what I said this morning. Every sensible lawyer in WHCO and every political …
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
3) … appointee at DOJ wd agree with me (as some have already told me). The pt cannot be stressed enough that tweets on legal matters …
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
4) … seriously undermine Admin agenda and POTUS–and those who support him, as I do, need to reinforce that pt and not be shy about it.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017
This post has been updated.
The walk-back starts in 3…2…1…
George isn’t considering his wife’s advice.
Hey give him a break – look who he’s married to. Isn’t that punishment enough?
“Sad” = deliberate mockery. Makes me wonder how many more fucks Kellyanne has to give herself if the hubs just lets fly that way. I also read some on-background stuff about unhappy inner-circlers getting ready to bail and write tell-all books. ETA of course she’d probably never work again in a similar campaign, but there’s always polling. Bet she’d get a pretty healthy advance on that book.
Every freaking day - it is a demented Hobson’s choice of crap coming from this White House - it is either disjointed illogical spewing from mister tiny digits … or it is some calculating & twisted destructive maneuver framed out by the malevolent Bannon brain trust. Can’t this putz go 24 hours without lashing out at somebody in a crude & uncivil manner?
At this point one can only conclude that it is all intentional and the destructiveness is by design - so all those who are “taken aback” or “stand aghast” need to wake the F up
Everyone needs to consider - we are not even 6 months into this cluster-F … with constant irrational whipsawing of the dialog and continued undermining of the operational structure of the country - Where do you imagine things will be in 36 months?