Trump on 'Fox & Friends': I will not fire Kellyanne Conway after the watchdog's reprimand



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President Trump, in an exclusive interview Friday "Fox & Friends," said that he would not dismiss Councilor Kellyanne Conway as a result of the recommendation of a government oversight body to revoke her due violations of the Hatch Act.

"I'm not going to fire her. I think she is a great person. She is a great spokesperson, "said Trump.

SPECIAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDS TO SHOW CONWAY

The Hatch Act limits certain political activities of federal employees. In an explosive report released the day before, the special council office (separate from the office with a similar name previously headed by Robert Mueller) cited Conway for repeatedly breaking the law with political statements about Democratic presidential candidates in Interviews Twitter.

Trump, however, said: "It seems to me that they are trying to take away his right to freedom of speech."

He even suggested that he would not advise Conway to lower the tone.

"It does not work that way," Trump said, saying Conway was only reacting to political attacks against him. "A person could not speak and I just do not see it."

Trump noted that he would get a briefing on the results.

In his interview with Fox News, special advocate Henry Kerner defended the work of his office. Still, he was respectful to Trump, pointing out the decision to withdraw Conway alone.

"We respect his decision and, of course, the president has any option he wants: reprimand or not reprimand," Kerner said. "It's at the discretion of the president and we respect that."

In the interview, Kerner said his office had "several discussions" with the White House lawyer and that they had the OSC report "for weeks". He stated that it was "not a kind of restless situation".

"I am a candidate named Trump, I have no animosity towards Kellyanne," he added. "My job is to ensure that the federal workforce remains depoliticized and as fair as possible."

On Thursday, the White House called the report "unprecedented" and hinted that it was influenced by politics.

Kerner, however, stated that the failure to recommend disciplinary action was "a bad signal for federal employees".

The OSC's own report indicated that in an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Feb. 19, Conway "insinuated that Senator Booker was" sexist "and" a tiny "motivational speaker," the Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, "was lying" about her ethnicity Conway also "attacked" former representative Beto O'Rourke for not "thinking that women running were good enough to be presidents" .

In its conclusion, the OSC stated that Conway "had a thorough knowledge of the Hatch Act and that it had already been acknowledged that she had broken the law by engaging in similar behavior."

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