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President Donald Trump’s ‘counsellor’ Kellyanne Conway accuses CNN host Anderson Cooper of sexism for rolling his eyes

DONALD Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway has lashed out after an interview she claims was “sexist”.

Matt YoungMatt Young
@MattYoung
3 min read
May 13, 2017 - 7:44AM
President Trump’s ‘counsellor’ Kellyanne Conway says CNN presenter Anderson Cooper was “sexist” for rolling his eyes”.
President Trump’s ‘counsellor’ Kellyanne Conway says CNN presenter Anderson Cooper was “sexist” for rolling his eyes”.

DONALD Trump’s “counsellor” Kellyanne Conway has returned to the spotlight with a bang, claiming she is the victim of double standards when it to comes to sexism.

After much speculation over the whereabouts of the US President’s close aide, including an SNL parody titled Where in the World is Kellyanne, Conway has reappeared to launch a scathing tirade against CNN presenter Anderson Cooper who rolled his eyes at her during a live TV interview.

Cooper, who had invited Conway onto his show to discuss the Trump administration’s inconsistencies over the firing of FBI director James Comey, played a series of comments by then-Presidential-nominee Trump during his campaign that praised the FBI director.

For example, on October 31, Mr Trump said that “it took a lot of guts” for Mr Comey to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Then, on January 22, then-President Trump blew a kiss at Mr Comey and claimed he was “more famous than me”.

So it came as a shock when news of the FBI director’s firing — at the personal request of the President — was announced this week. And was no surprise when Cooper questioned Ms Conway over the issue.

“[The] White House is saying that what he did was wrong. But previously, as a candidate, Donald Trump was saying that was the right thing,” Cooper said to Ms Conway.

A defensive Ms Conway replied — with a wink. And without an appropriate response.

“You’re conflating two things that don’t belong together. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was on your show often last fall saying we were going to win Michigan and how we were going to do it. So that was fun,” Ms Conway responded with a wink, before Cooper rolled his eyes.

When she appeared on Fox News after the interview, Ms Conway lashed out at Cooper and the mainstream media, claiming sexism.

“He had me sit through a bunch of tapes about Hillary Clinton’s emails,” Ms Conway explained.

“Hillary Clinton is in search of sexism as a lame excuse for why her disastrous candidacy and campaign lost six months ago,” she replied.

“I face sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that.

“Could you imagine rolling your eyes, having a male anchor on a network roll eyes at Hillary Clinton, at ... a female representative spokeswoman for President Obama or President Bill Clinton? I think not.

“Of course, it went viral....We feel very comfortable in this White House.”

Both sides of the political fence are throwing shade, with one right wing website, truthfeed.com, calling Cooper an “unprofessional baby”, “extremely butt hurt” and explained that “maybe he [Cooper] was unhappy getting owned”.

Independent Conservative Tammy Bruce joined the Kellyanne chorus when she appeared on Fox News, criticising Cooper for “reducing himself to being a child”.

“It’s like you’re in the cafeteria at the high school, that he just reduced himself to being a child, when she was stating a fact,” she said.

“It’s a message to the audience that this woman, who has achieved a historical achievement of winning the first Presidential race, an incredibly powerful woman in the country, is to be mocked, to be degraded and to be dismissed.

“That’s the eye roll.

“If it was a man I tell you, he would not use the same gesture.”

Overnight, the US President also acknowledged that Russia was on his mind when he made the decision to sack Mr Comey, who had been heading a probe into suspected Russian influence in the 2016 election.

“When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he said in an interview with NBC, appearing to link Mr Comey’s firing with the investigation.

Mr Trump said he had asked Mr Comey if he was the subject of counterintelligence probes — twice in conversations over the phone and once over a White House dinner.

“I actually asked him, yes. I said, ‘If it’s possible would you let me know, am I under investigation?’”

“He said, ‘You are not under investigation’,” Mr Trump recounted, repeating an assertion made when the White House announced Mr Comey’s firing Tuesday.

“All I can tell you is, well I know what, I know that I’m not under investigation. Me. Personally. I’m not talking about campaigns. I’m not talking about anything else. I’m not under investigation.”

Mr Trump’s comments to NBC raised questions about whether he had acted inappropriately and whether Mr Comey had broken government guidelines.

US presidents are normally at pains to avoid any suggestion of interference or even commenting on ongoing investigations. The FBI typically does not confirm their existence.

— Share your story — youngma@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/president-donald-trumps-counsellor-kellyanne-conway-accuses-cnn-host-anderson-cooper-of-sexism-for-rolling-his-eyes/news-story/ba3a427fcedde7c2cb519a668f48bb59