Mueller May Focus On Kellyanne Conway Next, Advertising Expert Says

Kellyanne Conway could be the next Trump administration official in Mueller’s sights, according to expert David Measer. The suggestion comes one day after Paul Manafort’s attorneys filed improperly redacted court documents.

The filings revealed that prosecutors believe Manafort shared polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant, during the 2016 election.

Mueller and his investigators believe Kilimnik is a spy for the Russian Federation’s military intelligence bureau or another Russian intelligence agency. It’s implied that Manafort was working with Kilimnik, and therefore helped a Russian intelligence agency to secure Donald Trump’s victory against Democratic challenge Hillary Clinton.

Some experts focused on how the redacted documents prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN Wednesday, “Is it collusion in the everyday non-legal sense before Rudy Giuliani started using the word? Sure. What could be more collusive than the top guy in a campaign with a Russian operative giving him the most sensitive data a campaign has?”

While some experts focused on what the documents meant for Paul Manafort and Donald Trump, others questioned what it means for other campaign officials. Including Kellyanne Conway. David Measer, an advertising and communications expert, shared his thoughts on the Manafort news in a Twitter thread.

Measer laid out Kellyanne Conway’s potential involvement in a lengthy thread, beginning by writing, “I’m just an advertising guy, but thought I’d put a marketing lens on the news of Manafort sharing ‘polling data’ with a Russian operative.”

He wrote that, while the new “seems benign,” it is anything but. Through multiple tweets, Measer wrote about the alleged collaboration between Russia and the United States using the analogy of Microsoft and Apple “collaborating on pooling their data resources in an attempt to bring down Samsung.”

But there's SOMETHING EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO THE STORY. To continue the analogy, imagine that Apple and MSFT then together hacked into Samsung's servers and stole some of their proprietary data, in the form of emails about their data… — David Measer (@dmeaser) January 9, 2019

Finally, Measer brought the thread around to Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, noting,

“[I]f you’ve got Manafort sharing valuable and proprietary data with a Russian intelligence operative, and you’ve got a Russian hacking operationg [sic] stealing the competition’s (the DNC’s and the Clinton campaign’s) data…then you’ve got it all. Everything you need to destroy the competition. Not so benign anymore. You know who knows a lot about this? @KellyannePolls — someone should ask her.”

If Mueller hasn’t done it already, it sounds like he might soon add Kellyanne Conway to his list of Trump advisers to interview.