Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway Friday morning defended NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer for his performance in Wednesday night's NBC/MSNBC Commander-in-Chief Forum, saying that the real blame on Hillary Clinton's activities should stay with her.
"I think it's completely unjustified to be criticizing Matt Lauer, to suggest that people in the media thought their immediate colleague Matt Lauer should be protecting Hillary Clinton and not asking her the tough questions about her report," Conway told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
On Thursday, CNN's Brian Stelter reported NBC executives agree with the public's opinion about Lauer's performance, quoting one NBC executive as terming it a "disaster."
Critics have said Lauer did not seem prepared for his interviews with Clinton and Trump, and complained that he was too tough on Clinton and not tough enough on Trump, but Conway said most of the country agrees with Lauer.
"They obviously have a problem with her lies, her restart with Libya, with Boko Haram and Benghazi," said Conway. "Look at her polling numbers. Why isn't this woman putting this race away? She has the perfect D.C. resume and this would be next."
Further, she said people are attacking Lauer as if "he put the private [email] server" in Clinton's house.
"Guys, he didn't, she did," said Conway. "It's as if he deleted 33,000 emails, he hid another 17,000 from you. So people have a problem with her. Her honest and trustworthy numbers have gotten worse."
Meanwhile, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney has called for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson to be allowed to be on the presidential debate stage, and Conway said that's because he and many consultants are "swinging at us every day," as they can't believe the party is veering away from "the elites" and over to the American people.
"Everything that we're doing over at the Trump campaign, in particular, Mr. Trump, is done without the full support of the Republicans . . . I know there's professional jealousy," Conway said, "because he's taking the case to Hillary Clinton in the way that you see the polls tightening, doing policy speeches. He's an excellent debater and the way he's preparing is as unconventional as he is as a candidate."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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