White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway talks with reporters outside the White House in Washington on January 23. Photo: AP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2185510/trump-adviser-kellyanne-conway-gives-first-account United States & Canada
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway gives first account of alleged attack on her in Washington restaurant that led to assault charge
- Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, was charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct over the incident
Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, has given an account of an alleged assault she suffered and her teenage daughter witnessed when she was grabbed by an angry woman in a restaurant last year.
In an interview with CNN, the White House counsellor went into detail for the first time, saying the woman, who has since been charged, approached her in a Mexican restaurant in a suburb on the outskirts of Washington DC, “screaming her head off”.
“Somebody was grabbing me from behind, grabbing my arms, and was shaking me to the point where I felt maybe somebody was hugging me,” Conway said in the interview for CNN’s TV series Badass Women of Washington.
“She was out of control. I don’t even know how to explain her to you. She was just, her whole face was terror and anger. She was right here, and my daughter was right there. She ought to pay for that,” she said in the interview, extracts of which were released this week.
Conway said she called 911 during the incident in October 2018, though the woman left before the police arrived.
Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, was charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct and is due to stand trial in March. A lawyer for the woman said his client intends to plead not guilty.
“Ms Inabinett saw Kellyanne Conway, a public figure, in a public place, and exercised her first amendment right to express her personal opinions,” McDaniel said in a statement.
“She did not assault Ms Conway. The facts at trial will show this to be true, and show Ms Conway’s account to be false.”
According to court documents, Conway told police the alleged shaking was brief “but the suspect continued to yell and gesture at her for approximately eight to 10 minutes before she was escorted from the restaurant”.
“The suspect was yelling ‘shame on you’ and other comments believed to be about Conway’s political views,” according to the charging document.
Conway’s daughter was able to take a short video of at least part of the incident.