c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including nimco. ♪ >> c-span is a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> former trump white house a senior counselor kellyanne conway took questions about the former president including whether she thinks he will make a bid for the white house in 2024. she comments on the likelihood of him testifying before the january 6 committee.

th meeting isis. meeting is hosted by the christian science monitor. >> first a little bit of background, ms. conway is a native of new jersey and has degrees from trinity college

here in d.c. and from the george washington university law school where she found her calling as a pollster. she has advised many republican candidates and finally, advised donald trump and in 2016, made history as mr. trump campaign manager, becoming the first woman to manage a successful american presidential campaign. ms. conway served as senior counselor to president trump through his inauguration until august of 2020 and i guess her favorite titles are mom and maybe champion blueberry packer? you didn't put that in your book. i know this from her days in new jersey. i have to ask if you are a phillies fan. >> i am really an eagles fan. >> they're both well. now for the ground rules. >> i made -- they made the wrong

kind of history last night. >> we are on the record, please know live blogging or tweeting. no filing of any kind well the breakfast is underway. there is no embargo when the session ends at 10:00 and we will email pictures and a rough transcript from this preface to all the reporters as soon as we finish. if you would like to ask a question please send me a signal and i will call on as many of you as time permits. now ms. conway if you would like to make brief opening remarks. >> thank you very much, thank you each and every one of you for being here, thanks for your questions, please proceed with your breakfast i was raised by italian women and i believe in enjoying your breakfast. i look at the 2020 and i see what is perhaps the most straightforward least complicated issue set i have ever seen in the 34 years of doing this. voters have been a

straightforward for over a year now. as to what is molding -- motivating them, is what we would ask focus groups and this will not strike you as a brand-new news. it's a bit of continued concern over education, parents and don't say i am a demographic cohort to be managed or pursued, i am not an interest group to be studied. i am a parent. they are concerned over the after effects, the longer hangover, the letdown of the lockdowns, the reduced test scores, the challenges that gen z is telling pollsters. i think with parents, and even non-parents it's given education a sustained level of outside importance in midterms and even at the federal level where folks are saying we gave covid money

for the schools or you are in charge -- you had a lot to say about shutting down the schools. but they don't want it to end as the most serious part of covid. i will talk a bit about that. of course, after the dobbs decision, abortion became more important on the ballot. there was outside coverage of how important it is to pro-life americans. many of them will show up to vote this time because of the decision as well. we know, cnn admitted it a few weeks ago that -- it's seeded from a tense importance. you see it is diminishing the polls as a top-five issue, asking people what are the most important issues and how much each of the following issue is extremely important, it rise up a bit. i believe a lot of the votes have been -- in early voting

approach pro-choice voters, they were motivated in early 2022 and they were motivated to come out early and vote against the president in power. many of those votes have been banked. people showed up by large. as i wrote in an op-ed, women are not single issue thinkers, we are multi thinkers and multitaskers, therefore we are multi dimensional voters, putting issues, individual ideas and impressions into our work cauldron, stirring it up and making a choice. this choice, women and other groups are trending more republican. the shift in the wall street journal polls released this week , since august of 20 22, a double-digit shift, 20 some points among suburban women who are 20% of the electorate, as the journal reports has been dramatic. you don't see shift in voters,

particularly female voters that dramatic, that quickly. you have to go back and see an important event and inflection points. it doesn't tell me something that is confounding. the democrats allowed this to continue and to do the minor course correction and having the bully pulpit and having the first female vice president, they should have done what they are doing now in november in september and august. they didn't do that. they are trying to tell america what is important to america, americans have a way of telling us what is important to them. trying to make this election about january 6, about abortion, climate change, has not worked because this time americans are very straightforward. one of my last points, i think the republicans, curiously and remarkably, surprisingly, have had incredible discipline.

that is not always the case. they have also done a fantastic job of recruiting candidates that look more like america. the electorate is not just changing for the republican party and colleagues. the number of candidates who are running and winning is republicans is also changing. 81 women are running for office, we had a record number in 2020, we busted through that number again. we have a record number of candidates of color, veterans, people of diverse backgrounds who come to the table as a republican nominee and talk about those diverse backgrounds and why they are republican. then they explain why. they are not just voting republican but running as republican. the fact that the committee is just this last week announced new six-figure investments in

congressional districts, that was carry two short years ago is powerful. these candidates who are running, they are already there, they are not just placeholders not like --they have been waiting for the breakout moment, they have been waiting for a republican trending year and the resources to be there to give them an extra boost. in some of the races, it has not gone from lean d to lean r. it's a tossup from solid d to lean d. those are the kind that can be swept in last-minute. i campaigned with many of these candidates. i am really most impressed by how are benches being built and filled by incredibly vibrant and articulate and committed, dizzy astec ready to go, ready to run

candidates who are half my age. some of them are very young. many of them have diverse backgrounds, they all have diverse backgrounds but they represent the growing diversity of the republican party. you can't just dismiss the fact that with a short amount of time, donald trump. it started and did much better among hispanics and african-americans, but that grew as more and more latino latinos are saying excuse me these are the important issues i am worried about. . i am worried about inflation, education, crime. it turns out immigration --plus a 33 for the republicans, who would've thought that? no one in this room besides me. we were told that donald trump's emphasis on emigration would hurt the republican party -- immigration would hurt the republican party.

now, republicans have a 33 point advantage on the issue of immigration. >> thank you. i will start with a few and then we will move to others. i have to ask you, is democracy on the ballot? >> democracy is always on the ballot because one vote, one person is enshrined --is not enshrined in our sedition. it's --in our constitution. that's why i'm against certain things like electability being caring the conversation, i have been critical of the republican party for years talking about elect ability. it pretends i will know if you'll win a drops people of their choices and voices. let the people decide, don't suppress the vote, do not discourage the vote by telling

people we don't need your vote, your candidate is way ahead or behind, don't even bother. secondly, democracy does nto belong to one party -- not belong to one party. it's the promise to each of us. our democracy belongs to each and every one of us equally. the democratic party and some of you enabling them believe that they own this idea of democracy, protecting democracy is fully. >> are you concerned about unrest, violence, or about people, maybe even not voting at all because they're worried about some crazy things happening or that they say republicans are thinking we've got this i don't need to vote. >> i worry every day that people think their vote doesn't count, or that it will not be counting -- counted or does not matter or it will be canceled or it will not be considered. or that their party is so far

behind, why bother at all? i worry they think things in washington where congress has earned a low approval rating are so corrosive, are so non-collaborative that they don't want to be complicit in that i actually voting and participating. that will be the wrong message. i can't believe the country --i am worried about random violence, the occupational hazard of taking the subway to work. in new york city. i'm worried about people in the street, being stabbed or beaten or worse. the response to unconcern to crime and violence from the democrats and this white house has been january 6. there was a horrible day. i put out my statement. you may have forgotten about it because it was an indictment of everything that happened that day and the people responsible for it. i feel about it the way i feel

about paul pelosi's attacker, the way i feel about people looting and burning down their cities in 2020. i feel crime and criminals should be arrested, indicted, prosecuted, punished, know their fate in our great rule of law based country. but the idea that people are waking up every day and seeing january six, 20 21 on the calendar is just wrong. there are a couple of democrats who said that recently in their right. that was a terrible day. there were 10 thousand people on the capitol grounds. you don't need a permit but those who reached the capital and those, up to 75, were prosecuted for crimes and let's talk about those who will not be

brought to crime. for. january 6 >> how often do you speak to donald trump? >> often. i speak with myt --i speak with my temps too. i will tell you that i feel close to each of them and have for a long time. i was mike pence's before he was capped to be vic e preseident. they did --they did marvelous things together in the country with a nasty divorce at the end. i hope that they will come together. it's funny i never hear from either trump or pants an insult -- pence, an insult about the other. it comes from "their people". that's too bad. people have all sorts of motivation to keep it in place.

i like to focus on all the things he did for the country. whoever runs for president, and whoever is the next republican president that person should look at the trump/pence accomplishment as a model for government. >> can you share any light on what donald trump would do with another term in office?

we certainly don't have, have an increase in crime. people feel less secure. financially, physically less secure at the border. and they feel like everyday life is increasingly unaffordable. donald trump feel excited at the first time -- time jump field i did it the first time. i can do it again. the of life under president trump and sticks to the binary contrast on the record, he has a good story to tell. the reason he wants to run is he thought he would still be there.

the entire second term agenda structured and a lot of that is still being run through the america first policy institute which is the think tank not just preserving the policy but also how do we move it forward for the next administration number three, donald trump agrees with a majority of democrats we cannot have joe biden again 202.

by having the person they trust to say this is my guy. you want them to be your next governor or senator. he came awfully close. the redistricting is a problem everywhere. the reason you're not going to see another 63 seat gain by another party the way president obama said in 2010 is because of redistricting. because we have so few truly competitive seats now. and maybe that is a threat to democracy. in new jersey i think people have had enough. i have two children in high school in new jersey. i know firsthand the effects on these kids and a lot of their friends and i talked to parents

all the time. that is the best focus group i can lend to you. new jersey is a state where people are done saying we pay higher taxes but what? comedy people have moved to north carolina, florida, texas, tennessee from high tax states. i think the best thing i can tell you about tom malinowski who is on the precipice of losing to tom keene or mikey cheryl who won in 2018 is they have not english themselves. if all you are running on again if your answer to everything is january 6, trump, you are not responding to let new jerseyans are telling you is animating them and keeping them up at night. i think phil murphy come close to losing but some of these folks are going to lose because the frustrations that fill in your go have not in mitigated or

modified by those same people in power. last point. the most important polling issue to me -- most important polling number on a set have a good issue to me in the last year has been the migration of coders toward the republican party everywhere on the issues of education. this is an issue for decades the democrats dominated by 18 points, sometimes 22 points on the question of which party do you trust more on the issue of education.

you had great democrats for years saying i am for school choice. i am for educational freedom. where are they? find me one in the federal government. where are you. in 60 years after democratic governors in the south stood in the schoolhouse door refusing to let kids inside the schools, we have bigoted democrats across the country not allowing kids of every background to leave the failing schools and access a quality affordable education really of their humanity and dignity. how did that issue become

controversial, let alone partisan? there is one party fighting for those kids to have scholarships and educational freedom. i did a france conference -- a press conference really go with floyd like an joe lieberman who i went on to be -- who went on to be al gore's running mate in the late 1990's. how has this happened? i'm telling you the educational issue, while people are talking about rising cost and rising crime, this is also there. a state like new jersey, these kids are suffering. they are suffering in a lot of the school districts and inner cities where some of them did not even show up for online schooling. and are way behind. who is looking out for them? some days i am close to emotional about it. we owe everybody around the table, we owe the schoolchildren

a quality education. >> national journal. >> thanks for the question. firstly, when will trump announce his 2024 for the? high will start with that -- 2020 forbid? i will start with that. >> is there a follow-up? he would like to have done it already. i give him credit because he is going to end up being a big winner from this election cycle. try as everybody did to say you nominated the wrong people. donald trump in some ways never stopped campaigning from early 2015. first for himself and for many different candidates. unlike joe biden, trump was highly in demand in 2018 and did what he could to show up for many of these races. went around a lot of the senate

seats and picked up seats after the kavanaugh hearings. something totally misread respectfully. he never stopped campaigning including into his post-presidency years. i would say it is hard for me to say joe biden ever started campaign. after covid hit. don't miss how and why president trump is running for president again if you would like because he actually never stopped. i give him credit for staying in the game this cycle with very few exceptions in they can't even think of any right this second. i can think of individual candidates like matt: in ohio but i can't think of individual republicans on the eyelet who are not running mostly if not

almost completely on the america first agenda. his legacy continued. i give him a ton of credit for not announcing this year, for not stepping in the way of the midterm candidates which a lot of people around him need him for their next meal and their next gig. urging him and baking him and -- that he would be announcing any moment. i'm glad he did not do that. wait until after the midterms. secondly, i like the fact he came back to washington at the end of july a full year and a half since leaving. and gave a policy speech. it took president trump one hour and a minute to get to the 2020 election in the policy speech. he went on to cpac and gave

mostly a policy speech. when people hear the binary choice and they are reminded of his words, you missed me, don't you? i'm going to push aside whatever i don't like and i'm going to vote my pocketbook, my personal liberty, my fear of crime, my frustration with no baby formula on the shelf, rising cost of gas and groceries which is a six month old conversation. i think we expect him to announce soon. there is a family wedding coming up on his property. election day is late this year. as he would say, wait and see. he has got a lot to think about because the super pac cannot be converted into a presidential source of funding. i ask him all the time, what

happens to your funding on the funding piece he was very conversant with what he can and cannot do. he has been deeply briefed on the. he knows that already. i asked him about his funds because i care about him as a person. he has a great post presidency life. he is involved. here is somebody unlike president george w. bush, bill clinton, barack obama, they left the presidency after two terms as young men. the worst things that happen to those gentlemen as a former senior staffer saying i'm running for office. will you help me? trump was just getting started. he wants to continue. i he should maybe keep your cell phone on and a few need any postelection plans because these races are never all called.

he would like them unannounced bar now and i think the fact he has not is a big credit to him and his restraint and him wanting to help in the midterms. he is being urged to go some people to still have a november surprise but we will try to mitigate november surprises for the candidates. if and when donald trump announces his presidential run, it does not scramble the republican field. it scrambles the democratic field. we are going to have a cage match rematch of two. i know around cleaning like to say we want to run against trump again. do they really? you have seen the polls. not just a rematch polls. the complete indisputable rack of popularity and lack of

approval of the sitting president and many pieces of his agenda they have not and able to sell a in a way that makes people have confidence. that is very clear. i think the democrats have a hard time and they would have liked to -- they would have liked to have been able to say biden, step aside. we finally got the brass ring. you helped get rate of donald trump. you've been running for president for decades. you did it to please step aside and take credit for one more historic think we can just elevate and then elect a female vice president. no one consider that. -- no one can say that. they simply cannot say to him you're vice president is waiting the wings and she is waiting to do the job. they don't want her either.

it scrambles the democratic field almost immediately. >> how does that change depending on the size of the house gop majority? >> the commitment to america that i think is a wise document strategically and substantively for the republicans to do in late september around the same time we did the contract with america. i was a baby pollster working on that. that was very smart for them to put out. it tracks with what the america first policy institute is doing. we met with kevin mccarthy and his team before that.

their close and i personally think we are going to have a majority in the senate as well. >> you don't think having a larger majority will give them more independence at the very least? >> but independent from what? >> from a particular group that is with his own party. >> i will tell you i think kevin has done a fantastic job of making sure everybody is heard. for one or two who still like to complain on tv. i was there on the stage for commitment to america.

i was there the day before on the stage with mccarthy and newt gingrich and me. i felt obliged to be there and wanted to make good use of the time. i will tell you -- they have microphones available. congressman marjorie taylor greene spoke. some people wanted something in there that was not shared 500 words. it is not the binder. i have blinders. i have blinders if you need them. 500 words. it is not just soundbites. an economy that is strong, a nation that are saved, a government that is accountable.

i think he has done a good job of showing up in different districts and making sure people are respected and heard and resourced. >> we are running out of time. >> let's just stay. [laughter] >> john from newsmax and i have a bunch of others. >> thank you, conan for coming this morning. -- thank you, carly and for coming this morning. utz -- do you see a zeitgeist and the republican party becoming more of an america first party with jamie and kinsinger and other dissenters leaving the party or just getting out of part -- out of politics altogether? >> my stock in trade as the voters. i focus mainly on the people and not just the people who represent the people who would like to represent the people. the gift of my professional life has been to go to all 50 states at least once to do projects. to sit in focus groups to look over the data.

that is been such a gift because you end up having such a deep respect for and understanding of the people. some of the best ideas i've ever heard and have applied politically have come from the voters. they have a lot to say. they thought this through. this to me is going to be a realignment because we are going to do better among suburban women. we are going to do better among hispanics. we are going to do better among working-class men and women, non-college-educated men and women who have been very hurt in this economy. we're going to do better in places that will apprise folks. i look at that more but in terms of the america first party, the answer is yes. it is truly the party of the worker. it is not just the party of the job creators or jobseekers. i understand what unemployment rates are.

the vast majority of the american households. vast majority of households in every state you cover. neither jobseekers or job creators. they are job holder. i think the realignment for the party is which party speaks to all of those issues? what are you concerned about? how that i read in the washington post a few months ago and of the fastest-growing groups of homeless in our country are single moms you have a job? i could not believe what i was reading. i just got goosebumps repeating it to you. how can it be you are single mom who has a job? you are doing the best you can and it is not enough. people are saying when i'm of the world the job become not enough? your grandfather had a job and my grandfather had a job. . it was enough support the family. maybe things were tight but you figured it out. that is the alignment. as for liz cheney who i have known for many years, adam kinzinger, he retired.

she lost a reelection. i don't think they want to go down for being known as one thing especially in the case of congresswoman cheney. i took my kids out to wyoming to raise money for her. i respect to the public service cheney family. she is a bona fide expert, a female republican expert. i don't worry about this person or that person. my job is to listen to the people. i have never heard the people so loud and so of a single mind on what is bothering them going into these midterms. >> can we keep going? >> gabby from cnn. >> thank you for doing this. you have talked earlier about republican candidate recruitment the cycle and how they have had success getting candidates who

look more like americans. as we approach the midterms and shift our focus to 2024, do you think it would be a mistake for the republican party to nominate donald trump in the presidential primary? >> first of all, that is up to the voters completely. it is up to the voters in different states. i think we have an incredibly strong solid bench and the democrats have not built there's much to my surprise. i am surprised. you have tiffany smiley in washington state keeping patty murray on under 50%. arguing to keep her seat.

chuck schumer help to make him the nominee. he gave ridiculous investments to the lincoln project. he gave ridiculous investments to make sure some of these republicans were the nominees. they seem to be holding their own. donald trump's theory is not the age or the gender. it is he already did this job and did it better than the current president. if you have that binary choice starkly in front of you and you strip away everything else and you just say donald trump, joe biden, energy under each, putin under each, gas prices, baby formula, national security, physical security in our community but let's face it, things will be stripped away. it will be a lot of issues and ideas flying out there in the other. -- the ether. you have to decide who you once

as his vice presidential nominee if he becomes the nominee. there will be some people who run against him. i am confident of that. i think i'm a child has a better shot of the republican nominee for president then joe barton has had being credit nominee but is a remarkable if not historic type of observation. >> do you personally think he should run? >> i personally think he should do what he wants to do and i understand he wants to make right all of the issues he made right while he was president. i think the reason people want to talk about january 6 and only talk about the time between november 3 and january 20 two years ago because they somehow want his legacy to not be real including many people benefited from it -- even though many people benefited from it. people want someone who is

willing to challenge the establishment. who is willing to make tough decisions, who works with a volume and velocity that is breakneck. i worked in the white house where only heard all day was chaos and crisis. . chaos in tweets crisis in situation room. crisis in the briefing room. an answer to a question right now we have -- you do what i'm doing here. no binders here. no lines. i would have chaos and crisis everywhere we look. we have chaos at the border. on the shelves where maybe formula should be. in the middle east. in ukraine. again, and i hear this a lot from donors. what about so-and-so? what if we have the trump agenda

without trump? the trump agenda, five of those 11 letters, five of the 10 letters are trump. you can try but i think many people will say why would i take a chance on an heir to the trump agenda when i have a real thing? >> are you thinking about ron desantis? >> i'm thinking about many people. if i'm ron desantis, i'm going to have a monster reelection. get elected with less than 50% of the vote with the help of president trump. i am sure there are both very grateful and knowledgeable about that. if i'm to santos, i do what statewide elected officials running as republicans have not been able to do which is i get into the mid-50's in my reelection. he should get a 10 of credit for that. rick scott won three statewide

races with less than 50 some of the vote if i'm ron desantis, i can think about running might not be the best two term governor of the third largest state in modern history and walk into the presidency in 2028? most of his generational peers are in the senate. i know them all. i like them all. i honor each and every one of their public service. if you are in the senate running for president, you have to show for that versus the desantis record in florida? >> david jackson from usa today. >> the environment is good for republicans but this still a tossup. ohio, new hampshire, georgia, arizona and pennsylvania. those are all trump candidates. republicans in those states tell me the trump factor is a drag. that these races should be easy but they are not. the common denominator is the trump factor.

why are they wrong? >> the common denominator should be -- those rinses you mentioned, i think adam is a good example of someone who did that. he made the race about his democratic opponent who people in nevada, they cannot tell you what she has done. if you asked them what is accomplished -- the top accomplishment of senator catherine cortez masto, i don't know. the number one idea -- i have no idea as number one response. it is hard to get reelected in good republican year when you yourself as a senator has not distinguished on your record. the issue in georgia should be rafael warnock. not herschel walker. the issue any new hampshire should be maggie hassan's record. she won by 1017 votes, 3/10 of a percentage point. she has a big issue and let me

say this about trump candidates and i have said this to the president. they don't do what he did. people get lazy and i am thinking of candidates who have not put away the races and maybe you mentioned them. you need to do the work. you as reporters. them as candidates. you have to do the work. you don't get donald trump's endorsement and stop campaigning and not do eight stops a day. connect with the voters and give interviews to press and local press. i write in my book one of the untold stories of our victory in 2015 was before donald trump took to debate in the rally stage and the national press were waiting for him, he was backstage giving interviews to local press. radio, tv, print. those headlines were just the

facts. donald trump gave me an interview. trump said economy is number one. that would live in the local press were everyone solid for the better part of 3, 4, 7 days. those candidates have to run their own races. donald trump cannot put them on his back and be the governor of this state. i feel strongly about that. donald trump told me before the georgia races in 2021, he called me about a different issue and i was in a airport. i was asked by david produce

take to see -- perdue to take his seat. i went down and i campaign and i said, i am a soft message. why are we talking about this and this? they said kelly and will be the first elected female senator -- the president called about a different issue and said are you coming to georgia? he asked me about something different and he said, what do you think? i said, you need to come to georgia and tell your folks to vote for kelly and david to they need to hear for you. he said i will do that, honey. yes, he calls me honey. i've been called much worse including by many of you. he said, when i get all the credit and when i lose i get all the blame and i never forgot about that. he will have a lot to like about after the midterms. he will have a lot to brag after the midterms. he could have pulled an obama and showed up the last couple of weeks and as popular as

president obama is in the party, he gave a great statement to the podcast where he said i will tell my party to stop talking about these other things. you have to talk about kitchen table issues. he is right but he is not taking his own advice. different candidates, never trumpers, people who would never get hired by the private sector, his republican consultancy who need each other for the gravy train to be a walking violation and what i call staff infection and they will always criticize each of you but i would say to them, try this. it is hard to win a presidential race. ask trump's 2020 team that. we candidates who are running. the nominees that he endorsed?

they think he is a drag? i want them to say on the record to. by the way, some of them are running against really good democratic candidates. some of them are not. they have to run their own races. you have to connect with the voters. no one else can do it for you. not ex-president presidents named obama or trump. you have to connect with the voters. >> tom from yahoo!. >> you recall of course the many rumors about potentially replacing vice president mike pence on the ticket to bring in a woman to run. two or three years ago, it was nikki haley. now we have the same dynamic where we hear marjorie taylor green's name. it gets to the point of why just

-- why does trump have so much trouble with independent women voters and why would that change and, this was the calculation going into 2020. would adding a woman running mate change that at all in 2024? >> i do an update -- i just wrote an op-ed. i have never heard the term men's issues. have you? the presumption is men can handle all the issues and you can do the economy and energy and putin and israel and israel and border security and crime. but that women are only women's issues. women care if you share their gender but they really care if you share their position on issues and if you hear them.

if president trump runs he will , get the nomination. he will pick a vice president running mate. that he is comfortable with. that he thinks complements his presidential runner and will not be interfering with getting back to a great economy. whether that is a woman, or a candidate of color, we will see what happens but i would not put much stock in any one name who is on the list or not who has a good pr team but i think he has a wide aperture of possibilities. on independent women, we can't have it both ways. if independent women as the new york times poll said moved 34 points in a month from democrats to republicans, if the wall street journal poll this week shows suburban women migrating since august to now over two

months by 26 point, that is donald trump's party. you're saying he cannot get out of his own way. can't have it both ways. either he is the nominee of a party where the shifts are taking place during the midterm elections where he has been this larger-than-life figure or he is not. he will benefit from that. first of all we beat hillary , clinton who would have been the first female president of the u.s. and never will be and women are the majority of the voters. we knew how to communicate with women. in 2020, they did a terrible job with women. $1.4 billion and running against joe biden. the same joe biden we see every day.

$1.4 billion proving the old adage the best way to make a small -- i did terrible among women. the number one issue with covid. people were afraid about covid and they needed a better response. >> does that number of defendant women, does it increase or decrease with trump on the ballot? >> i think it will -- let me amend my answer. i think the republican nominee for president including president donald j. trump has is best a shot as a very as a challenger campaign which is what this would be because these presidential candidates always do better among women the second time. george w bush, ronald reagan and others.

i also say that the kamala harris factor is important here. women are very negative about her right now. her disapproval rating has been stuck where it is. it is hard to watch her back over teleprompter and see the teleprompter win every time. people know what they see. this is not racism and sexism. this is eyesight and hearing. if she was remotely competent and confident in our job, i'm telling you there or be able to joe biden step aside because she can beat donald trump and we can have two terms of the ident harris -- the biden harris the wager but horrible bush had three terms of reagan and bush.

they cannot do that but it is not static and it is issue based. we in this country protest and pontificate in groups. we vote as individuals. that one third, one person enshrined in the constitution, that one vote happens very privately. -- you fill out your ballot and put it in the mail and close the screen. your private. i coined the term any 2016, undercover hidden trump voter. i don't want to fight with people. it will be so many of them in 2024 won't know how to keep up with them. they weren't there in 2020 when i heard there campaign saying, you have a hidden undercover trump voter pit no you don't. they are having boat parades on the weekend.

>> it is 10:00. we started a little late. >> keep going. >> danielle of npr. >> thank you. i went to back way up because of talk you mentioned democracy being on the ballot a couple times both from a republican the democratic point of view but i want to ask about denying election results. to what degree do you see that doing that as weakening democracy whether it is via somewhere a knock on factor causing violence or people losing faith in the process? doesn't that at some point make it harder to govern? >> election denying is a bipartisan problem. you have democratic members of the house of representatives as we sit here who have never ever legitimized a republican presidential election this

century. they voted against certifying the election in 2004 and 2000 and 2004 and 2016. they should not have done that. i would argue that stacy abrams should not have said it hillary should not have said it to the press secretary for been tweeting at the time. brian kemp and the republican store the election from stacey abrams. that is dangerous. as a staffer with secret service protection, you are dam right i worry about violence and threats i have four children and my mother at home. i'm very worried about that. when you talk about election deniers and wrongly talking about 20/20, you are losing a

large swath of the country. they are looking at republicans and sammy you are putin and ukraine deniers. you are a horace open border denier. that is a big problem for this white house. i'm happy he did because it is so weird and tone deaf joe biden picked another place three miles away from the white house last night to give a speech days before the midterm. he gave a speech about democracy on the ballot. it makes no sense to me. he is welcome to he is not acknowledging people's pain and their frustration. when you say if you're saying i have seen this a lot now, so and so is an election denier and they are going to be secretary

of the stay or win governor of the state, how can that be? don't forget all the things people are looking at including that. i will tell you the republicans are very worried what happened in georgia in 2021 with the two special elections is going to happen everywhere or could have happened anywhere in the primary in 2022. meaning republicans will say it is not fair here my vote does not count. we are going to steal that again. we had record turnout most primaries in seminary places. the enthusiasm for voting republican senate or congress and some places governors over choque people saying i think it will never be fair again. i have to tell you if something is that important to us, graduation day, wedding day,

what happened to election day? we do it two months before election day and we are canning the ballot you weeks after. that cannot be. people are reporting deplorable conditions in the voting precincts where you want people to volunteer. i've my 218-year-olds to cancel each other the roto and -- cancel each other's vote out. we want young people to say let me get in there. if you only see a candidate through one prism, you're not seeing that candidate the way voters see that candidate. whether does donald trump, joe biden, john fetterman. i'll give you two from either party. if you see kari lake and you see election denier coming you don't see the woman who articulates policies on the issues people are starving to hear while her opponent cannot tell you how she is going to help one third of

the electorate. it sounds like the taco bell dog when she responds to a simple question. i tell people all the time republicans have to earn a win and democrats have to eat all the policy failings of the biden-harris white house. if you spent all day as a republican ridiculing joe biden's physical and mental challenges and talking about john fetterman's stroke, you risk losing. the art of policy is not to tell people what they can't see but what they can't see. this beat the drum about who is an election denier, people already see that. the job is to tell them what they cannot see. what they have either forgotten about or what they never knew in the first place. >> from the guardian.

>> if trump runs in 2024, who do you think are essential people for the campaign? >> i have seen all of their names in your story so we will let them continue to talk about them. the president talks to many different people. he never truly reveals what he thinks about some people which i is very smart of him. i think the bible says a multitude of wisdom through a multitude of counselors anything that is smart for any person who seeks public office and that is very true of president trump. the three people you mentioned, i am sure will have a role. if you run for president, there is a lot of money attached to it

that is why you don't hear from some of the core team from 2020 because their summer counting their money and he is at mar-a-lago. that will be true and i think he will continue to talk to the people we trust you have a need to get their name in the paper. he will also continue to consult with folks who will not have former goals in the campaign but who are his larger kitchen cabinet which has been helpful to him as well. i would not have had that first job as campaign manager let alone senior counsel if i were not listened to and respected by my boss. that is a situation i think a number of people have with donald trump. i think the reason i talk to him regularly and the reason we have a good relationship even though we disagree fundamentally on certain things is because we

disagree fundamentally on certain things. he likes people who deliver news, good, bad, or ugly respectfully and deferentially. i believe in respecting the office of the president. he likes people who are not obsequious. one of the dumbest things ever said about him, he only wants yes-men around him. no, he does not because that he does not know where he stands. many are afraid to tell him an article one of you just ordered he needs to know or he does not see the pitfalls of hell covid is not -- of how covid is not going to go away as an issue. people were very worried about it. very worried about covid. i think he will have a team that is familiar to you.

i think you have a team of new players as well. sure there are some people who believed in the america first agenda but don't forget there is a lot of money to be made. i lost money in 2016 because i was pence's poster. i had to give up all my clients to stay fit you always will have true believers and you will always have people who because you have seen the backgrounds really nine -- of the nice places. an consultant who failed to ever elect somebody president. consultants always win. he will be watching that. >> would you work on the trim campaign? >> if you are asked to run the campaign, would you accept? >> i will let president trump his decisions on personnel. i don't want joe biden in 2024

either. >> todd gammon from the dallas morning news. >> i have>> a different 2020 for question. you said today trump is already running for president. he has just been waiting -- >> i said he has never stopped campaigning including for other people. that is a big difference. >> you said he would definitely win the nomination if he runs. there are a couple other dozen republicans who are already running or thinking about running. your truck on time, could you handicap the top 15 of them? it is the biggest threat to deprive him of the nomination? >> the biggest threat to deprive him of the presidency is different. you can have. a spoiler come in the way ross perot did in 1992. ross perot's estate was made. he did not get electoral votes.

yet 19% of the national vote. it was enough to give way to the bill clinton presidency. he did much better the second time. you can have a spoiler that cannot take the nomination away from you away pat buchanan could not get the nomination from george herbert bush but paved the way for the strong enough third-party candidate. the new president whoever it is if it is biden, trump, someone we are not thinking about, they get elected with for less than 50% of the vote. that is more likely to meet than someone denying him the nomination. in some ways it happened to jimmy carter also. ted kennedy challenges him for the nomination. ted kennedy wins 12 states. 12 primaries including california and new york. carter wins more. states as the nominee but he is selling bloodied up it is hard

for him to prevail. that family is the more likely scenario. i have raised that the people who need to hear it. of course they do. i also think it would be some of the folks who. want to run it was very lucrative to be a never trumpeter learning. the cable contracts to be had. there is all the hype and glory whenever it have had otherwise. all you have to do is that to know. that is the part i can see biden or trump usually listing 50% is getting over 50% electoral vote that matters. they will be a coupled with a look and try to see if trump really is vulnerable. the rest is up to president trump. is he out there is coming time talking about what people i miss

most about him which is a resolute decisionmaker who challenges the establishment and gets stuffed done. that economy before glitters indisputably an economy people not. i traffic in data. when you listen to people, you would be shocked who is willing to vote for him. it would shock you because it does not comport with maybe what you think a lot of crossover biden voters. if you win because you are not the other guy and you don't do enough to have this governing majority, to have the issues people associate back with you, it was hard to ring. i think it would be harder to run -- in some ways i think the criticisms of trump, the suit

from of the obsession with trump. it is very odd. i am so grateful to him for giving me a great job and improving many things about this country but i cannot possibly obsess over him the way some other people who say they don't like him do. i think trumped arrangement syndrome pays really. -- i think trump arrangement syndrome israel. people are hurting in this country. i'm going to say again. one of the fastest growing new groups of homelessness are moms who don't. have a job >> went tiny last -- who don't have a job. >> went tiny last question. >> you said kevin mccarthy, you expect him to have a governing majority. what will that mean for america's foreign-policy especially when it comes to ukraine?

>> i personally don't think you will see much of a change. meaning this country will continue to support ukrainian people. continue to do what we can and continue to be unequivocally resolute against the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation. first time in decades obviously by a very dangerous man who seems to want to continue to cause a lot of pain and destruction and not just in ukraine. i think the question also has to go to the senate. the margins were be tighter there. -- the margins will be tighter there. i don't really know it has been articulated efficiently this administered him -- by this administration.

the country feels it can do and is due but feels eight should not do and can't do. that me say about january 6. i hope people know a lot more about that day than i do. i was hoping we would learn more about what the fbi knows or what the intelligence community knows. i really -- it does not really matter to me as much what young people i work with at the white house think they know about that day. it matters what the people in charge of knowing what happened that day and what might have happened that day long in advance know what happened that day. you're going to make superstars out of people you did not care much about when they were very difficult to deal with. we are missing an important conversation which is elected

law-enforcement no? should we -- what did law-enforcement know? i'm worried about filings and criminals everywhere. as an indiscriminate fear in this country that needs to have an indiscriminate type of coverage and resolution. >> thank you so much. thank you for staying over time. [indiscernible] >> putting on your trump advisor hat for a moment, do you think? he should testify? >> i don't think you should. >> have you told him that? >> yes. no, i don't. i think he should cooperate however is best for him to cooperate. i believe he has.

i think they should have done their work a whole year earlier without this fanfare and celebrity. i think many things about that. it is not kellyanne conway saying donald trump should not cooperate. many of you covered the mar-a-lago raid because it looked like it was a faster way to get donald trump in the january 6 committee finishing its work. are we waiting for a report? is this a political exercise? it is not your typical congressional hearing where both parties have seats at the table. where you can ask questions. it is not a legal proceeding anybody is familiar with where you have cross examination. where witnesses cannot say without objection i think the

just of what i was hearing if i recall correctly might have been x. . you can't do that in a court of law. i think that is why the january 6 committees or january 6 is lower in the polls than some people would have wanted. other people made their decisions. i don't know why some people did what they did and others did not. i think people should try to be helpful to democracy however they can but i also think this is what america sees is this relentless pattern of not trying to get the story and for better or for worse they see the mar-a-lago raid, they see the january 6 committee, they see russia collusion, they see many different people, places and things in the service of trying

to get donald trump. it is hard for them to focus and say this is the most important. i think they ran out of time for him to properly comply with the subpoena. they could have done a year ago but did not. >> you don't expect him to? >> i will not say what he is going to do. i'm saying i am a fully recovering attorney. when you are prosecuting a case, amassing evidence or you want a grand jury to indict somebody, you don't testimony, you begin with it. why didn't you start with him? you've had an entire year and have to tell us what is important with nobody objecting, some witnesses being coached in front of our eyes and so on and so forth.

was it come -- was it some kind of crescendo, we will save the best for last? they could have done that but they didn't and i think they will run out of time. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. conway: sometimes, but what has been the most common name or five letter word said in the january 6 hearing? trump. or in your coverage of it, trump. it is not a surprise where it is headed or why we are here in the first place. what is also happening is people are watching, people who committed crimes are being prosecuted and punished for those crimes and they see that. i don't know -- i have to disagree on this one only because i understand the way investigations work. if he has been the central figure and this has been the raison d'être from the beginning

for the committee -- they are not prosecuting somebody who came from texas and new jersey and is now going to prison or who has been confined the whole time. the whole point from the beginning -- look at the opening statements, what the purpose of inviting people to testify. who couldn't possibly know what was going on that day completely? i surely hope christopher wray does. i am waiting for him to tell us. i would love to hear it so we can avoid it in the future, whatever the it is. i want to hear the riots -- hear about the riots in 2020 and january 6. of course safety is important, so i don't know why waited so long to subpoena him. host: did you want to throw in one more tiny --? then we've got to go. reporter: a few weeks after the elections, the republican

national committee will have its winter meeting. do you believe ronna mcdaniel should run in the election to an unprecedented fourth term as chairman? ms. conway: i believe she should, she will come and she will win. she is respected among the 168 members who make that choice. i think she is an unsung hero of the last several years, particularly these midterms. the are in c has made sure -- the rnc has major they stood up community centers and so many places, i believe the first one was orange county last year. the first two korean members of -- yep, republican. they put them in so many different places and it has been a great resource for people to walk in and say what is a republic, how are the parties different? they have filed lawsuits where

they needed to. she is great on tv, i don't know where jimmy harrison -- jamie harrison is i think they have the best rapid response of anyone. as to who will be on the campaign, i think what the rnc has been able to do, by keeping the president, probably their best fundraiser, i would think, in direct mail, and when he has shown up at the front rnc events , i think they have done a great job of keeping the issue agenda intact but being a partisan organization. it is their job to elect republicans. they've also done a pretty good job of holding biden and harris and the democrats accountable. they have come up with things that folks have said, like

election denying, nancy pelosi is an election denier. they do a great job. i think it is an enormous sacrifice. she has teenage kids, college-age daughter, a senior in high school. it is a huge sacrifice that they want her to stay. she's doing a great job and i think if she were listened to more in 2020 we would've had a different outcome. host: thank you all for coming and staying and i hope you will come again. ms. conway: as donald trump would say, let's see what happens. host: thank you. [indiscernible conversations]

ms. conway: whether it is the searching of supplies, ppe, the masks, the ventilators -- we were ask to send 40,000 ventilators. we didn't have 40 insulators then. we surged the need. for sly, thank god, governor cuomo sent what he didn't need to other countries. the 95 million meals that went to school children who were not in school anymore who relied upon those, i was part of the conversation where we had two choices to cover the uninsured for testing, and if they tested positive, treatment for covert, long before vaccines if you -- you open up obamacare?

we thought that was too complicated. we just said we will pay the bill, and we paid billions and billions and billions of dollars to make sure the uninsured had testing and treatment if they were hospitalized. when is the last time you heard president trump say that? he should go back and tell people of the things that were done day in and day out, for all of the people complaining that they were home with their spouses and children too much during covid. we were in the situation room and in the white house 24/7. we were trying to get it right. i think the president should go back and really talk about that. the campaign we shut down. he shouldn't relitigate, he should talk about everything that was done to respond to a once in a century pandemic. i think he never really discussed -- it doesn't get

discussed, that people understand the government was working for them -- ppp and all of it. you look at that compared to this white house, they haven't even responded to inflation, they say it isn't real. biden said i'm not worried about us, i am worried about other countries. he has back to back sentences that don't work for a u.s. president with inflation at 8.1%. what i would have done differently in 2020, suburban housewives, this is for you. i think suburban housewives -- who told him to say that? there is that but also think the campaign always felt they could get back to the economy.

just as i am saying this year, don't voters -- you don't tell voters what is important to you, they tell you. covid was obvious he going to be an overarching concern and election issue in 2020. no way around it. the other thing i would have done is bridge the gulf of how little we saw biden every week, maybe an hour a week. maybe an hour or two a week, and we were seeing trump for an hour or two every day. there was a golf in the difference of exposure between the nominees. maybe smoke out biden or sarah gets to show up places. people talk about the first debate. chris christie and i came back -- i know for a fact donald trump was ready for the first debate, he gave great responses. i prepared with a moderator and

my questions were tougher. my questions were more searing than any moderator could ask because i did it privately. he said will they ask about? no, they will ask a variation but the answer is the same. he was very well prepared, he knows what his accomplishments are. but someone gave him the advice, i went on the plane and went back to my kids, someone gave him the advice, discard attacking biting, be done with him in the first 10 minutes. now we see the right strategy is very obvious with joe biden. he will not have the energy and capacity to stand there for 90 minutes and do well consistently. the durability will not be there. numbers completely numb. americans killed, let him speak.

let people get a look. the way they do with john fetterman, with katie hobbs if she showed up to a debate. debates have not gone well for some of these candidates. i think stacey abrams did a terrible debate. she is a very talented woman -- she has a million new people to register to vote, that is powerful. these debates sometimes don't help the democratic candidates, and you let them speak, that would have helped. i also think missing the second debate was problematic because so many early votes had already happened by the time the third debate happened. i wrote a lot about the 2020 elections. the underdog, you are undervalued, the hunger and the

swagger, if you don't have enough money, if you don't have enough staff, you become creative and you show up -- i also think look, donald trump saw hillary clinton as a worthy opponent and he had respected her. he at least respected her career. i am not sure he always speaks about joe biden the same way. he lies about where he went to college, his grades, he doesn't know where he is. there is a little bit of that. i would have done a lot differently, but i write about in the book. [crosstalk] he doesn't know how to respond to this challenge. i think dra in new jersey say i am a blue party in a blue state.

the only room that joe biden says he was in in the private residence when barack obama was president for eight years -- i can't believe he was only invited to the east wing. obviously that wildwood rally was the most rsvps, legitimate numbers. a lot of excitement around it democrat turning republican in new jersey and eating a candidate. -- beating a candidate. we have all these people saying it is a blue state, i'm a democrat and a blue state, i will do fine, did not do enough voter maintenance of constituents outreach. now they are seen as the party that defunded the police, that is responsible for inflation,

responsible for border insecurities, rising crime. it is hard for people to say i never said defund the police, your party did. if you are beholden to everybody else because of where you working what party you are in, we will do that too. i think he finally ran a good race good reporter: [indiscernible] why should they? ms. conway: again, i don't tell voters what they should do. i try to make sure they have the right information and i respect their thought process and i try to listen to what is animating them this cycle that will compel them to vote or stay home and not vote. i at least feel somebody is paying attention to the staff that not every thing was fair in 2020. i am sorry, i can't believe that 2020 has somehow left half the country inconsolable and the

other half of the country is incurious. how in the world can we spend three years on russia collusion and we can't see it and not be upset that in pennsylvania alex whipping opened and counted after the date? that you are putting pizza boxes up that people can't see? that should bother everybody. that should bother everybody. i think people in some states feel there is only one party whose candidates are actually saying we will make sure that never happens again. whatever that is. i think the best way to talk about this is in the rigged movie. i watched it at mar-a-lago. i said i am surprised.

-- education, knocking on doors. the party does a lot of that for you, but this is a joint committee, and what does your campaign do? spent $11.5 million on a super bowl ad. if you could tell me what it was, you get a prize today, the average voter can't. [indiscernible] i think donors are upset to see where their money went. you have to invest in the non-sexy stuff and that begins with voter and election integrity, voter education. some states, people are just standing and saying everything was fine, everything was fair,

you are a denier. excuse me, maybe you are denying a central fact. if we have a once in the sentry pandemic and we have a once in this century pandemic compelled election, things were really weird and you know it. things were odd. we had more people voting in more ways over more time than ever before. that is important. more people voting in more ways over more time than ever before. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. conway: now you are just putting down the voter. reporter: we had restrictions on what we could do. ms. conway: it worked out meaning more people voted, but how are we not concerned about making that permanent? how should we not be concerned about codifying that, institutionalizing it? it was a once in a century pandemic. talk to me in 98 years and i will give you advice on how to handle it. i think they are upset that there are people trying to make that permanent. reporter: it seems strange to

have an election skeptic running an election office like in arizona. ms. conway: you are upset that janet yellen said inflation is transitory, which is not true. she is an inflation denier and she ran for department of treasury. reporter: i want to focus -- ms. conway: i know what you want to focus on. i want to tell you what americans will focus on. reporter: an interesting move to say being in disagreement constitutes a denier. ms. conway: that is a good point. [indiscernible] i think skeptic is a better word than denier. i have to go back to how covid should have maybe been handled in 2020. -- reporter: i have to go back to how covid should have been maybe handled in 2020. should he have handled it differently?

should he handle it differently now? [indiscernible] ms. conway: no -- i think the doctors on tv 24/7 could talk about that. reporter: what about the campaign? ms. conway: the campaign for sure. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. conway: there again, his people. reporter: there is a large -- ms. conway: his people tell him his people do not like x. reporter: you think that is wrong? ms. conway: he should have talked about the vaccine more because he owns it. in the cabinet room -- we had invited the heads of the pharmaceutical companies. that meeting had been scheduled

for weeks and they were coming to talk about drug pricing and president trump said they tell me this might be the big one, let's talk about vaccines. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. conway: and? stop talking about it? he did a great thing, he did an interview maybe in february of 2021 and she asked him, he said i took the vaccine, along the -- emlania -- melania had it good but there should be freedom of choice the person who really raised skepticism about the vaccine is, harris. she did, she gave an interview, she gave an interview to someone and she said i wouldn't take the trump vaccine. and of course she did, i'm sure it saved her life and mitigated

any physical damage she might suffer. harris and her husband are one of 12 million americans who took the so-called trump vaccine while he was still in office get she raised -- in office. she raised skepticism. reporter: as a poster, how do you think this will play with republican voters? ms. conway: some people decided not to get a vaccine, some people think it causes damage, just like people think the moon is made ofople think different things. you can't say a woman's right to choose and then criticize people for not taking the vaccine. people have a right to choose their own health. i think the most important thing politically to say is that without me there, we would not have had these vaccines developed in record time, that is a fact. he needs to say that, he needs to talk more about everything that was done during covid that

benefited this country because -- i told a big donor about this recently, about the school children's meals, about the uninsured being paid, and he was like what? people don't know that. they are not going to be told in les tells them that. -- unless president trump tells them. i think he will probably go through a lot of what went right during covid because he was ahead. reporter: ok. [indiscernible] >> nice to see you. [indiscernible conversations]

>> this evening, president biden ll be speaking in myland at an event hosted by the democratic national committee. he is campaigning for wes moore for governor. that begs at 7:00 p.m. eastern, we will have it live on c-span at 8:00 p.m. eastern, for present trump campaigns in io for republican candidates, including u.s. senate candidate jd vance and governor mike dewine. both of these events live on c-span, c-span now, and online at c-span.org. >> tuesday, election day, starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern, watch c-span's live coverage to see which party will control congress. here the results as they happen from house, senate and governors races from around the country.

see victory and concession speeches from the candidates on c-span, the c-span now free mobile app and at c-span.org/campaign2022. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span's tv network and c-span radio, less a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. download it for free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> there are a lot of places to get political information.

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