George Conway, Kellyanne’s husband, says Trump’s travel ban tweets undermine his case

The husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway joined the ranks of legal scholars and lawyers critical of President Trump’s tweets about the his executive order on travel and refugees.

George Conway, an attorney who had been considered for top posts in the Justice Department, said the president’s comments about the travel ban were damaging to the Office of the Solicitor General’s efforts to persuade the Supreme Court to reinstate the ban.

“These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly won’t help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters. Sad,” Mr. Conway wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Mr. Trump had earlier used the medium to criticize the Justice Department for defending the “watered down” second version of the order. The administration had revised the travel ban, and Mr. Trump signed off on it in March, after federal courts blocked the initial version.

The Justice Department has sought to defend the revised executive order in court by drawing distinctions between the first and second versions and by distancing the second version from comments Mr. Trump made about wanting to ban Muslims from the United States while on the campaign trail. But legal scholars said Monday that the president’s latest Twitter tirade undermines those efforts.
Two hours after his initial comments, Mr. Conway went on to expound on his earlier comments, noting that he still supports Mr. Trump and his policies.

“Just to be clear, and in response to inquiries, I still VERY, VERY STRONGLY support POTUS, his Admin, policies, the executive order and of course, my wonderful wife. Which is why I said what I said this morning,” Mr. Conway wrote in a series of tweets. “Every sensible lawyer in WHCO and every political appointee at DOJ wd agree with me (as some have already told me). The pt cannot be stressed enough that tweets on legal matters seriously undermine Admin agenda and POTUS—and those who support him, as I do, need to reinforce that pt and not be shy about it.”

Mr. Conway had been on the shortlist of those considered for the position of Solicitor General. He was also in the running to head the Justice Department’s Civil Division, which has been defending the travel ban in court, but according to Above the Law recently withdrew his name from consideration.

Mr. Conway did not respond to request for comment Monday, but did confirm the authenticity of his Twitter account to the Washington Post.