White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwaySpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report George and Kellyanne Conway honor Ginsburg Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE said she meant "no disrespect" when she questioned a reporter about his ethnicity on Tuesday while defending President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE amid blowback to his remarks going after a handful of progressive House Democrats.

"This was meant with no disrespect," Conway wrote to her 2.8 million Twitter followers, referring to her exchange with the reporter during a press gaggle earlier in the day at the White House.

"We are all from somewhere else 'originally.' I asked the question to answer the question and volunteered my own ethnicity: Italian and Irish," she continued. "Like many, I am proud of my ethnicity, love the USA & grateful to God to be an American."

This was meant with no disrespect.



We are all from somewhere else “originally”. I asked the question to answer the question and volunteered my own ethnicity: Italian and Irish.



Like many, I am proud of my ethnicity, love the USA & grateful to God to be an American https://t.co/OvBALIO6WP — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) July 16, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT During the press gaggle Tuesday morning in the White House driveway, Conway engaged in a back-and-forth about ethnicity with Breakfast Media's Andrew Feinberg.

“If the president was not telling these four congresswomen to return to their supposed countries of origin, to which countries was he referring?” Feinberg asked.

“What’s your ethnicity?” Conway responded.