Belfast Telegraph

Trump’s bid for re-election suffers blow as key adviser resigns from White House

- BY JONATHAN LEMIRE

KELLYANNE Conway, one of US President Donald Trump’s most influentia­l and longest serving advisers, has announced she is leaving the White House at the end of the month.

Ms Conway, who was the American leader’s campaign manager during the 2016 election race, was the first woman to successful­ly steer a White House bid before becoming a senior counsellor to the president.

She informed Mr Trump (right) of her decision in the Oval Office.

Ms Conway cited a need to spend time with her four children in a resignatio­n letter she posted on Sunday night.

Her announceme­nt came hours after her 15-year-old daughter Claudia tweeted that her mother’s job had “ruined” her life.

Claudia tweeted: “My mother’s job ruined my life to begin with.

“Heartbreak­ing that she continues to go down that path after years of watching her children suffer. Selfish. It’s all about money and fame, ladies and gentlemen.”

Ms Conway’s husband, George, had become an outspoken Trump critic.

Ms Conway wrote:

“We disagree about plenty but we are united on what matters most: the kids.

“For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.”

She is still slated to speak at the Republican National Convention this week.

Her husband, a lawyer who renounced Mr Trump after the 2016 campaign, had become a member of the Lincoln Project, an outside group of Republican­s devoted to defeating Mr Trump.

Yesterday, it also emerged that George Conway had described Mr Trump as “evil” and “racist” in a film called #Unfit set for release on September 1 that examines the president’s psychology.

Recalling how he was with his mother, who is from the Philippine­s, as a teenager when she was told to go back to her own country,

Mr Conway said of Mr Trump: “It really came home to me: This man is a racist, he is evil. He’s a racist. Beyond any question.”

He said he had previously voted for Mr Trump. “The problem was, once he got into the supreme position of power, he lost some of his incentive to be discipline­d,” he said.

“And I’m thinking at this point in time: What’s wrong with him? Donald Trump is like a practical joke that got out of hand.”

The politicall­y adversaria­l marriage generated much speculatio­n in the Beltway and online.

George Conway also announced that he was taking a leave of absence from both Twitter and the Lincoln Project.

Kellyanne Conway worked for years as a pollster, and originally supported senator Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primary.

 ?? AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK ?? Kellyanne Conway will be leaving her position in the
White House
AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK Kellyanne Conway will be leaving her position in the White House
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