Needs to crawl back under the rock...

Conway warns lawmakers to not treat Fauci like Kavanaugh

Conway compared Fauci's prospective testimony to the confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

By QUINT FORGEY

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday warned congressional Democrats on Tuesday against conducting what she called their "usual fishing expedition" if they hear testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci in the coming days.

Conway compared Fauci's prospective testimony to the confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose ascension to the Supreme Court was marred by allegations of sexual assault.

“I just hope that the people who are asking the questions are asking intelligent, rational questions that are actually relevant to the American health, because we’ve seen what they do before,” Conway told “Fox & Friends.”

“For example, they say stupid things like, ‘This is a job interview — this is a job interview for a lifetime appointment’ about Brett Kavanaugh. ‘Let's believe all women’ — or at least those three women, most of whom then retracted or didn't have corroborating evidence,” she added in reference to Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings, which were marred by accusations of sexual assault.

Conway said she hoped lawmakers would break with what she said was a pattern of partisan inquiries launched by Democrats that also includes the impeachment inquiry and probes into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"We had two years of collusion nonsense, then we tried to impeach a president, remove him from office," she said. "None of that worked. It better be about health."

The admonishing remarks from one of President Donald Trump’s most senior aides came after House Democrats said last Friday the White House had blocked Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from testifying before the House Appropriations Committee this week.

However, Fauci will likely testify before the Republican-controlled Senate sometime next week, a senior administration official told POLITICO — despite new guidance from the White House barring officials on the administration’s task force from participating in congressional hearings during the month of May.

In a memo to House and Senate staff directors, a copy of which was provided to POLITICO by a source who had obtained it, the White House Office of Legislative Affairs said “no Task Force members, or key deputies of Task Force members, may accept hearing invitations” for the remainder of the month. “Exceptions may be made only with the express approval” of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the memo read.

Still, Conway left open the possibility that Fauci or other task force members could appear before Congress this month, arguing Tuesday that their testimony “would shed a great deal of light.”

“Listen, if the president has no problem with that, there’s no executive privilege attached to that based on the task force conversations, then I’ll leave that to the lawyers and to the different testifiers,” she said.

But Conway declined to conclusively state “one way or the other” that Fauci would testify before the Senate and not testify before the House, again deferring to the administration’s attorneys. “If they were to say yes to that — and I didn’t say they said yes to that — then I certainly hope people would make good time,” she said.