Former White House Advisor Kellyanne Conway Tests Positive for COVID-19

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Amy Liu, News Editor

On Friday evening, former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway confirmed that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Conway’s daughter, Claudia, first announced the news on TikTok, where the teenager has nearly one million followers.

In a statement on Twitter, Conway said that she had mild symptoms and would be quarantining after consulting with doctors. Conway joins a growing number of lawmakers, White House officials and members of the president’s inner circle who have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past few days.

Conway tested positive after attending an event at the Rose Garden last weekend, where President Trump announced his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. University of Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins and U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have also been diagnosed with COVID-19 after attending the event. All four were sitting in the first two rows during President Trump’s announcement, where masks and social distancing were noticeably absent.

Conway, who managed President Trump’s 2016 campaign, recently stepped down from her position as a top White House counselor in order to focus on her family. Her high-profile tenure rose to prominence in Washington through her fierce defense of the President’s actions on several occasions, including his use of racist rhetoric and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her political views were often publicly at odds with those of her husband, lawyer George Conway, and her daughter Claudia. Both are outspoken critics of President Trump.