White House adviser Kellyanne Conway appears to be changing her tune on the importance of allowing the women who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct to be heard.
Last week, after accuser Christine Blasey Ford said she would be willing to testify, Conway expressed her support, telling Fox News that “this woman should not be insulted and she should not be ignored.”
But on Monday Conway’s message shifted. Following the publication of a story in the New Yorker detailing a second allegation of misconduct, Conway told CBS News that it was “starting to feel like a vast left-wing conspiracy.”
"I just don't think one man's shoulders should bear decades of the MeToo movement." Kellyanne Conway defends Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a second woman came forward with a new sexual misconduct allegation against him. https://t.co/OdQQUh36dc pic.twitter.com/oHIkNsUKhK
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 24, 2018
“I can tell you that some women do not come forward because they fear not being believed, and a lot of other women don’t come forward because of other women who make false accusations,” Conway said. “So it cuts both ways.”
“I just don’t think one man’s shoulders should bear decades of the Me Too movement,” she added.
Conway also appeared to undermine the allegations against Kavanaugh by suggesting that they occurred before he became “powerful.” She cast doubt on the likelihood of someone “preying” on women as a teenager and then not doing so “as he became powerful,” adding “it’s when men become powerful and think that they can use women and interrupt their careers if they want to for their own predatory proclivities that then they start preying upon women.”
Noting that Kavanaugh believes this amounts to a “smear campaign” and claims not to have been in attendance at the party in question, Conway added, “all that has to matter.”