Md. woman accused of assaulting Conway

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A Maryland woman faces charges that she assaulted White House counselor Kellyanne Conway in front of her teenage daughter during a confrontation last year at a restaurant in a Washington suburb.

Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, of Chevy Chase, was charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct and has a trial tentatively scheduled to start March 29, court records show.

Conway told police she was attending a birthday party Oct. 14 at a Mexican restaurant in Bethesda when she felt somebody grab her shoulders from behind and shake her, according to a charging document prepared by Montgomery County police. The woman who confronted Conway yelled, “Shame on you,” and “other comments believed to (be) about Conway’s political views,” the document says.

Inabinett’s attorney, William Alden McDaniel Jr., said in a statement that his client exercised her First Amendment right “to express her personal opinions” about a public figure in a public place. McDaniel said his client didn’t assault Conway and will plead not guilty to the misdemeanor charges.

“The facts at trial will show this to be true, and show Ms. Conway’s account to be false,” the lawyer’s statement says.

“Her ‘First Amendment’ right to scream like a lunatic does not include touching me or anyone else,” Conway told The Associated Press in an email.

Conway, 52, was not injured, according to the charging document. The woman who confronted her was gone by the time police arrived, but restaurant staff helped police identify her as a suspect, and Conway’s daughter provided officers with a short video clip and photograph of the encounter.