The Jan. 6 hearings began on Thursday night, and they were a big Nielsens hit. Almost 20 million people tuned in to watch the House select committee make public their findings into the Capitol riot, which ended Donald Trump’s presidency in disgrace. Fox News, meanwhile, tried, badly, to ignore it, while Trump’s social media service is infringing on its users’ free speech. Among the revelations was that the former president seemed perfectly fine with his supporters wanting to hang his vice president, Mike Pence.
As it happens, Trump’s longtime counselor, Kellyanne Conway, was booked on Real Time with Bill Maher, there to promote her low-selling memoir. Maher repeatedly offered her a chance to redeem herself, namely by condemning her old boss. And, as always, she refused.
Conway began by brushing off the hearings, pointing out, however rightly, that it’s not a “courtroom,” i.e., that the committee can’t actually prosecute anyone. (Though they can offer plenty of evidence for others to do that.) Maher pushed back, saying that “doesn’t mean it wasn’t valid” and that “the footage is the footage.”
Conway agreed that the “footage is appalling,” but tried to steer the conversation to other issues: inflation, high gas prices, etc. Maher called her a “spin doctor,” which she denied.
At one point Maher brought up claims that Trump okayed the idea of Pence being murdered. He asked Conway, “How do you spin that?” Then she gave it a try.
“That’s, those are reports I’ve seen that people are saying that,” she said. “And if people were threatening the life of the Vice President, I’m sure there are great federal laws against that. Let’s use them.”
Conway also brushed off the idea that Trump actively encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol. When asked about telling them to “fight like hell,” she claimed that’s ‘What every college football coach says to the guys that are taking the field.”
Eventually Conway wondered aloud why people persist in talking about her old boss, who’s been accused of attempting a coup. “You’re always talking about Donald Trump,” she said. “He hasn’t been president in a year and a half.”
You can watch the exchange in the video above.
(Via The Wrap)