White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway Friday denied a reporter's claim that she'd bullied and abused her during a telephone call for mentioning the relationship between her and her husband George Conway, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, in an article about people who could potentially become the president's chief of staff.
"What I asked this reporter is why do you call yourself a breaking news reporter if what you wrote wasn't breaking news," Conway told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"I didn't say anything in that phone call I haven't said publicly before."
On Thursday, reporter Caitlin Yilek of the Washington Examiner wrote that Conway, describing herself as a "powerful woman," called and threatened to investigate her personal life.
The Examiner posted audio and a transcript of their full exchange, during which Conway was angry that a line of the story said she was "in the middle of Trump's barbs" with her husband.
Yilek, 29, said she asked Conway if she'd like to speak to her editor, and Conway told her "let me tell you something, from a powerful woman. Don't pull the crap where you're trying to undercut another woman based on who she's married to. He gets his power through me, if you haven't noticed. Not the other way around ... but I've known your editor since before you were born."
On Friday, Conway said, "I never said if it was on or off the record. I don't care. She must have thought it was off the record. The reporter then says would you like to put any of this on the record? They aren't even paying attention."
Conway added that she knows the reporter got her "15 minutes of fame and clicks and kicks" from the article, and asked that viewers go to her Twitter page and read her rebuttal in full.
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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