White House adviser Kellyanne Conway startled CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday by saying she herself was a victim of sexual assault.

“I’m a victim of sexual assault,” Conway said on “State of the Union” as part of an extended statement in defense of both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the rights of those who have been victims of assault.


"I don’t expect Judge Kavanaugh or Jake Tapper or Jeff Flake or anybody to be held responsible for that. You have to be responsible for your own conduct," she continued.

Tapper circled back to Conway’s remark, offering her his sympathies. Conway offered no details, and Tapper didn’t ask for any.

The host did ask how she reconciled her personal experience with President Donald Trump's statements about people making false allegations, to which she replied: "Don’t conflate it with what happened to me. ... Let's not always bring Trump into everything that happens in this universe."

During a subsequent panel discussion, Tapper referred to her revelation as “a remarkable moment I wasn’t expecting.”


The counselor to the president backed Trump’s statement that he found the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford on Thursday to be credible, though Conway defended Kavanaugh strenuously and attacked Democrats for their conduct toward him.

“I said I found her compelling. And I'm glad she had — had her voice, yes,” Conway said to Tapper. “And I think they could both be right. I think something terrible could have happened to her … the same summer she and I were 15, and that Judge Kavanaugh was not involved. And I think that is why you have sworn testimony. That is why you have corroborating evidence, if you can find it. And that's why I suppose the FBI will continue to investigate.”

She also said it is important not to lose sight of what is at stake.

“You're always going to find somebody to try to impugn the integrity of either Kavanaugh or Ford,” she said of the partisan battles taking place across the nation.


“That is not what this is about. This is about whether or not this man and his impeccable judicial temperament and qualifications in 12 years on the second highest court in this country is qualified to be on the United States Supreme Court.“

