Conway suggests media should pay less attention to Trump's tweets

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, asked on Monday asked to explain her candidate’s latest unsubstantiated claim on Twitter, deflected the question, seeming to suggest that the Republican nominee’s tweets shouldn’t be considered newsworthy.

In a combative exchange, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki repeatedly pressed Conway to explain what Trump meant when he asserted that a “secret tape” had come out showing that Hillary Clinton “wants to take in as many Syrians as possible.”


“We cannot let this happen — ISIS!” Trump concluded in the tweet , without an explanation. It is unclear what Trump was referring to in the message, given that no such recording has emerged since he posted the tweet on Monday morning.

When Kornacki brought up the statement on air that afternoon, Conway dismissed it, interjecting, “Twitter.”

Kornacki pushed back, “Well, he said, this is the best way of reaching voters, so I’m going to quote him on it.”

“He gave three speeches today, Steve!” Conway protested.

Kornacki went ahead and read the tweet, and then asked Conway what secret tape exists to prove Trump’s claim. She dodged, saying, “I don't know about the secret tape,” before pivoting to Clinton’s proposal to increase the intake of Syrian refugees by the U.S.

Kornacki asked her again: “Kellyanne, he says there’s a secret tape. He bragged, the other day, he bragged how many Twitter followers he has. He says this is the best way to go out and reach people with the truth. This is what he chose to put on his Twitter account. He says there is a secret tape out there that proves that, as he calls her, 'Crooked Hillary' wants unlimited Syrian refugees coming into this country. I’m asking you, where’s the secret tape?”

Conway dodged again: “Well, first of all, maybe someone played him a tape, I’m not with him today. He’s in Florida, I’m here managing the campaign,” she said, then again cited Clinton’s proposals on refugees.

Kornacki pointed out that Clinton has not proposed taking in an unlimited number of refugees. He asked her again about the tape: “Where is it?”

Conway offered no more information on the “secret tape” claim, and instead criticized Kornacki for focusing on Trump’s Twitter presence. Instead, she suggested, journalists should focus on his rallies.

“Everybody wants to just follow him on Twitter,” Conway said. “It’s easier. They want to take one comment he made or one tweet that some journalist said he said and then it makes all the rounds. I mean, let’s be fair. He gives speeches every single day.”

Kornacki concluded the interview by noting that a speech Trump had made that day was “the lead-in to this broadcast.”

Conway has raised eyebrows over some recent tweets of her own, which some observers have read as subtly critical of her own candidate and his lack of discipline on the campaign trail.

