Conway defends Trump's D.C. visit

Donald Trump’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at his downtown Washington luxury hotel will put the “tangible accomplishments” of the GOP nominee on full display to American voters, said his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway.

The real estate mogul’s decision to take a break from the campaign trail to officially open Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., built in the city’s historic Old Post Office building, has raised eyebrows among some who believe that his time might be better spent on the stump. But Conway said the ribbon cutting will put front and center the type of business acumen that Trump would bring to the White House, located just blocks away.


That Hillary Clinton stopped in Miami on Tuesday night to take in part of an Adele concert should make Trump’s hotel visit look even more campaign-worthy by comparison, Conway suggested.

“He’s making a pit stop here in Washington and his under-budget, ahead-of-schedule hotel is really remarkable. It shows Americans the tangible accomplishments of Donald Trump. He’s somebody who builds things. He’s somebody who fixes things,” she told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning. “And you know, respectfully, Hillary Clinton has time to go to an Adele concert and everybody thinks that's really cool. Donald Trump stops off to unveil just an incredible, stunning piece of architecture, new hotel, first-class hotel and everybody's hair is on fire.”

Wednesday’s event at Washington’s Trump hotel is not the first of the campaign for the Manhattan billionaire. He held a news conference at the property in mid-September, ostensibly to address his longtime support for the so-called “birther” movement that questioned whether Barack Obama was qualified to be elected president. Trump spent 30 minutes at the event, which was carried live by all the major cable news networks, talking up his new hotel and offering a parade of decorated veterans the opportunity to praise him.

Only after they were finished did Trump briefly address his history with the birther movement, incorrectly accusing Hillary Clinton of launching it. He told the crowd and assembled media that “Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making the United States great again” and quickly left the room without offering an apology.

On Wednesday, Conway said Trump’s pit stop in Washington should not be taken as anything but that, and added that he has an aggressive upcoming schedule and had just wrapped a three-day campaign tour of Florida.

“Hillary Clinton took five days off to prepare for one debate and everybody looked at that as some kind of noble exercise with 23 days to go. Nobody covered that as, where is she? Why doesn't she campaign much? What is she doing? Where is she hiding?” Conway said. “He’s got the most active campaign schedule of the two candidates by far.”