Kellyanne Conway once again put herself at the center of controversy this week when she went on national television and declared she was doing a “free commercial” for Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, ethics laws be damned. Media snarked, ethics watchdogs barked and even White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Conway had been “counseled” on her behavior.
But according to someone who has worked with Conway and knows her thinking intimately, none of that much matters to Conway. She’s taking a long view in her bid to rise in the White House ranks — and she’s performing for an audience of one: President Donald Trump.
And so while critics may squawk, what matters most to Conway is that Trump sees her defending him on national television.
For Conway, the prize for loyalty is eventually landing a spot as chief of staff, becoming the first woman ever to hold the role and cementing her spot at the center of Trump’s inner circle.
Currently, Conway is seen within the White House as a “Queen without an Army,” according to a former campaign official. Conway has a vague title of “counselor,” and recently hired a chief of staff and an assistant to support her on her quest to dig into the "next phase of issues," according to Conway. She has taken ownership of opioid-abuse and veterans affairs, a portfolio that Trump cares deeply about. Conway says she plans to turn her office into a war room, and was quick to mention that she has top-security clearance.
She has her eye on leading the White House Council on Women and Girls with former Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell, senior counselor for economic initiatives, and with Ivanka Trump, should Ivanka decide to take a more active role in the administration.
White House officials say Conway spends her days dipping in and out of meetings to offer big-picture communications advice, while taking on cable news talking heads in the mornings and evenings and steering reporters throughout the day.
Had she wanted it, Conway could have a more defined role already. Trump favored Conway for press secretary over Sean Spicer, the long-time aide to Reince Priebus who currently holds the position. But Conway says she turned down the job because she wanted a role in setting policy, not just communicating it.
Had Conway wanted more, and as she sees it, she already has it: “All you need to know is that I have the ear and confidence of one person,” Conway said.
"I have ‘walk-in’ privileges,” she said, claiming she’s among the few who can enter the Oval Office without being summoned.
Conway in January even tweeted a line suggesting that she’s filling the shoes of Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to former President Barack Obama: “Congratulations to @VALERIEJARRETT on post-White House life! I inherited your office & love of the job. All BEST."
Hoping to cement that role, Conway has never wavered in her defense of Trump since becoming his final campaign manager this summer. She took that defense to a new level Wednesday when, with the president under fire for publicly rebuking Nordstrom over dropping Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, Conway swept in for a dramatic display of loyalty. In a nationally televised interview, Conway touted the president’s right to defend his daughter and then proclaimed she was doing a “commercial” for the first daughter’s clothing line — federal rules preventing public officials from using their office to plug private products be damned.
It’s what Conway has done for Trump all along, allow him to spit fire for his base and then defend him against everyone else.
That’s important to an image-obsessed Trump, who continually assesses what his team is doing to promote him on television.
“She’s the one who is more in tuned with what’s going on in the world of the media, and what they’re thinking which is valuable for Trump, because his entire day fluctuates based on what’s in the media,” the former campaign official said.
Trump relies on her to create what Conway calls “real people impact.”
To Conway, that means communicating in the way that Trump did on the campaign trail, tapping into "the forgotten man and woman." It also means talking about how things will look, like if Trump should sign an executive order in the Oval Office or somewhere in middle America.
"I promised the president I would help oversee communications here,” Conway said. “Comms is not press, it’s visionary, it’s the real people impact.”
According to a source close to Trump, the real estate magnate respects the aides that he perceives don’t need him, like Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, a multi-millionaire who ran right-wing news outlet Breitbart. And he measures his team as either staff or peers based on their success, which may explain why Conway is quick to explain that Trump knows the sacrifice she has made to work for him.
“He knows I had huge offer to sell my firm. He knows I walked away from millions,” Conway said. “I admire the sacrifices he made to be here and he admires the sacrifices I made. Having to sort through the schooling and living situation for my family. It means something to me that he acknowledges it.”
But beyond the financials, Conway’s dogged loyalty to Trump has come at a personal and professional cost.
Beyond the ethics furor over her using public office to boost Ivanka’s private interest, Conway’s credibility in under constant attack.
In her attempt to do Trump’s bidding, she may have crossed one of the people closer to Trump than herself — Ivanka Trump. A source close to Trump said that his daughter scolded Conway for dragging her brand into an ethics mess and told her not to mention it again on TV. This was a continuation of a conversation that Ivanka Trump had with her father weeks earlier about leaving her business out of the politics, that Conway wasn’t aware of.
Trump, for his part, thought that the word "counseled" used by Spicer at the press briefing was "terrible," and said that her statement was just a continuation of his own sentiments, according to someone in the room.
"Why would you use that word? Who’s idea was that?" Trump asked Spicer after the press briefing, the source said.
In recent weeks, Conway hit meme-level mockery for thrice referencing the “Bowling Green Massacre” — despite there being no such thing. (Conway says she misspoke in referencing the arrest of bombmakers in Kentucky who were responsible for no domestic terror.)
CNN also openly questioned whether they’re willing to have her on air, citing her credibility. Privately, a producer from another network noted that they’re reevaluating how valuable a guest such as Conway is, considering it’s not clear she’s in the room when decisions are being made. "We’ve been more selective on who we have on from the administration. The decision makers are Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, we should be focusing on those guys," the producer said.
Conway shot back, that “sounds a little sexist.”
And not everyone is buying Conway’s assertion that she’s at Jarrett-level closeness with Trump. Jarrett, a Chicago native, had an almost familial closeness with Obama, and reached that level with his wife Michelle. As assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, Jarrett was one of the longest serving senior staffers of the Obama administration with walk-in privileges to the Oval Office.
“I would think that Ivanka or Jared would be the closest to having that sort of relationship,” said Ebs Burnough, deputy social secretary in the Obama administration. He said the Obama-Jarrett tie was “a deep tie that can’t be replicated overnight."
The two met over lunch in D.C. in early January to talk about the trials and tribulations of the job, where Jarrett warned her about “the incredible volume of requests and offers” and “to be responsive and still focus on why I’m here,” according to Conway.
But while Conway does not oversee Spicer and the communications shop, Jarrett had a clearly defined portfolio — including business leaders, state and local leaders and intergovernmental affairs — and three deputy assistants underneath her in the office, and special assistants below them.
Before Jarrett, Karen Hughes oversaw the Bush White House’s offices of communications, media affairs and speechwriting, as well as the press secretary.
But the heart of Conway’s position remains her connection to Trump.
“I know who I am to this guy and what he relies on me for."
Hadas Gold and Josh Dawsey contributed to the report.
Beatriz Simpkins 