White House
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows joined “CBS This Morning” to discuss the upcoming
Republican National Convention and the status of stimulus talks with
Congressional Democrats. Plus, he talks about the impact of Kellyanne Conway
leaving the White House
Meadows: Kellyanne Conway’s departure is ‘big
blow to us’
Conway announced late Sunday that she would leave the
White House at the end of August.
By QUINT
FORGEY
08/24/2020
09:34 AM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/24/mark-meadows-kellyanne-conway-departure-400746
White House
chief of staff Mark Meadows acknowledged Monday that White House counselor
Kellyanne Conway’s upcoming departure from the administration represented a
“big blow” to President Donald Trump’s team.
“It’ll be a
big hole, a big blow to us,” Meadows said in an interview on “CBS This
Morning.”
“We
certainly will be praying for her as she made this decision that some people
will see … as a difficult decision,” he added. “But I believe if you ask
Kellyanne Conway, she believes she made the right decision for her family.”
Conway
announced late Sunday that she would leave the White House at the end of August,
citing the need to spend more time with her children as they continue remote
learning in the fall semester.
“For now,
and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama,” Conway said in
a statement on Sunday.
Her
husband, George Conway III, also announced Sunday that he was withdrawing from
the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republican operatives working to
deny the president a second term.
The
couple’s public, Trump-focused feud had provoked media scrutiny of their
marriage in recent years and put pressure on their four children — including
their 15-year-old daughter Claudia, who had posted about her parents and
criticized the president on social media.
“Kellyanne
is going to be missed. America loves her,” Meadows said Monday. “We certainly
will miss her here at the White House. But listen, this is all about making a
priority for family. That’s what this president’s about, and that’s what
Kellyanne Conway’s about.”
Conway’s
resignation means Trump will be losing one of his longest-serving aides at a
particularly tumultuous moment in his presidency.
Less than
three months from Election Day, he faces a continued coronavirus pandemic, a
cratered U.S. economy and dismal public polling showing him trailing Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden nationally and in swing states.
But Meadows
on Monday rejected the suggestion that Conway had jumped ship as the
president’s reelection prospects appear increasingly imperiled.
“That is
cynical, and anybody who knows Kellyanne Conway knows that she has never shied
away from a fight,” he said. “And so to suggest that is just not based on the
facts.”
Conway, who
served as Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, is scheduled to speak Wednesday on
the third night of the largely virtual Republican National Convention, based
out of Charlotte, N.C.
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