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Kellyanne Conway brands critics "miserable" as she defends "alternative facts"

Kellyanne Conway
Kellyanne Conway (Rex)

Kellyanne Conway, the Trump adviser who coined the Orwellian newspeak “alternative facts”, has hit out critics — saying anyone who thinks she isn’t smart or credible is a “f****** miserable person.”

In an interview with New York Magazine, the counsellor to the president said: “Anybody who pretends I’m not smart or not credible, it’s like, ‘Excuse me, I’ve spoken 1.2 million words on TV, OK?,’”

The 50-year-old, who became first woman to ever run a Republican presidential campaign when she began working with Donald Trump, officially the least popular president in history, was widely mocked after using the phrase.

In interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd she defended Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, who lied about size of Trump’s inaugural crowd in his first appearance before reporters.

Conway countered: “What you’re saying it’s a falsehood. And Sean Spicer gave alternative facts to that. But the point remains …”

Todd interrupted: “Wait a minute … alternative facts? Alternative facts? Four of the five facts he uttered were just not true. Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”

In the same interview with the magazine, she argues that instead of Bowling Green massacre — terrorist attack she made up — she had meant “Bowling Green masterminds”.

Defending the phrase ‘alternative facts’, she said: “Two plus two is four. Three plus one is four. Partly cloudy, partly sunny. Glass half full, glass half empty. Those are alternative facts,” she said, adding it meant “additional facts and alternative information.”

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Conway may not be lying about being smart — she graduated from Trinity College in Washington, DC, earning a degree in political science.

She then studied at Oxford University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a prestigious honors society, and later earned a law degree with honours from George Washington University Law School.

The interview comes as Democratic congressman Adam Schiff tweeted a scathing response to the President when he declared the hearings into his administration’s tied with Russia as “fake news”.

“Mr President, the Russians hacked our election and interfered,” he wrote.

“No one disputes this now, but you. This is what is called ‘fact’.”

“As you will see during our hearing, Mr President, there is no evidence Mr Obama tapped your phones. This is what is called ‘fiction’.”

On Saturday, Donald Trump picked the husband of Conway, George, to head the civil division of the Justice Department.