In January, Conway clashed with NBCâs Chuck Todd over the administrationâs false assertion that President Trumpâs inauguration crowd was the largest in history. âYouâre saying itâs a falsehood,â Conway told Todd on Jan. 22. âSean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts.â The day before, Spicer used his first official statement to castigate the media for what he called âdeliberately false reportingâ on the size of the crowd at Trumpâs inauguration. âThis was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,â Spicer told reporters in the White House Briefing Room despite clear visual evidence to the contrary. âThese attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.â
Conway insisted on Sunday that members of the media knew what both she and Spicer meant, but âjust wanted to look at it through the most negative lens possible.â âYou now, in 2016, 2017, have people looking at the inauguration up close and in person,â Conway said. âYou have people watching on their screens, which they couldnât do 10 years earlier. You have people certainly watching on TV, listening to it on the radio, multimedia way of doing that.â
Conway then pivoted to what she claimed were indisputable âfactsâ: that Trump has been responsible for rising stocks and falling unemployment figures. âStock market up 25 record highs, fact,â Conway said. âOver 800,000 jobs created, fact. Health care reform on its way and tax reform right after that. Fact, fact.â âBut alternative facts, let me just repeat for those at home: partly cloudy, partly sunny,â Conway said.
Conwayâs appearance on CNN came two days after Spicer resigned over Trumpâs hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. The president has long been frustrated by the mediaâs coverage of his administration and, in particular, his campaignâs contacts with Russia â and tapped Scaramucci to help reshape the narrative coming out of the White House. âWe have accomplished so much and we are being given credit for so little,â Trump said in a statement announcing Scaramucciâs hiring.
Earlier in the interview, Conway complained that CNN is âobsessedâ with the Russia scandal that has dogged the first six months of Trumpâs presidency â and that it should expect more attacks from the White House. âIf youâre going to cover Russia, Russia, Russia, while weâre talking about America, America, America, weâre always going to be like this,â she said.
Kellyanne Conway explains what she meant by âalternative factsâ