One of Donald Trump‘s most loyal supporters and former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has broken from the president’s rhetoric and publicly admitted that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. In a new interview, Conway spoke candidly about Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory, which is in stark contrast to the messaging coming out of the White House. However, Conway did take pains to put Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results in a generous light. Via The 19th:
“The president wants to exhaust all of his legal avenues, as he has made clear many times. His team is doing that, and that is his right,” Conway said in an interview with The 19th’s Washington correspondent, Amanda Becker, that aired Friday. “If you look at the vote totals in the Electoral College tally, it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail. I assume the electors will certify that and it will be official. We, as a nation, will move forward, because we always do.”
In another surprising move, Conway offered her services to the incoming Biden administration before once again breaking from Trump by emphasizing the importance of a peaceful transition. “You always need a peaceful transfer of democracy, no matter whose administration goes into whose administration.” It should also be noted that Trump has pretty much run out of “legal avenues” and some of his deranged loyalists are now nudging him to “suspend” the Constitution and declare martial law and order a new election, but who’s counting?!
As of this writing, Trump has yet to lash out at Conway’s seeming betrayal on Twitter.
You can see a clip of Conway’s remarks below:
While Conway’s acceptance of Biden’s win is notable, she’s not the first high-profile member of Team Trump to acknowledge the reality of the election results. Earlier in the week, Attorney General Bill Barr contradicted the president’s legal team by telling the Associated Press that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said.
(Via The 19th)