Conway’s husband tipped to be Washington justice chief
DONALD TRUMP is expected to nominate the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to run the Justice Department’s civil division, according to reports.
George Conway would lead an office charged with handling the legal changes to key policies of the new administration, including the controversial, now twice blocked, immigration ban.
If confirmed by the senate, it would make the Conways one of Washington’s most powerful couples. Mrs Conway, a long-time Republican pollster, stepped in to manage Mr Trump’s presidential bid when it was being buffeted by damaging controversies.
She is now one of Mr Trump’s closest aides and one of the few people beyond the first couple to have secret service protection, which she was given after receiving multiple death threats.
Mr Conway is a partner at the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where, according to the firm’s website, he specialises in litigation involving securities, mergers and acquisitions. In the 1990s, Mr Conway wrote the Supreme Court brief that cleared the way for Paula Jones’ civil suit against Bill Clinton. The then president’s denial of an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky during a deposition in the Jones case led to his impeachment trial.
The report, published first by The Wall Street Journal, comes after rumours that Mr Conway was previously being considered for the post of US solicitor general. The White House and the Justice Department would not immediately confirm the story and Mr Conway declined to comment