Just Mondy morning, Kellyanne Conway was mewling to Fox News about how Congress was trying to "silence" her by inviting her to testify (and basically defend herself) before the Oversight Committee on Wednesday about the report that she should be dismissed from her position for repeated violations of the Hatch Act.
One assumes that Conway's invitation to testify was her opportunity to counter the conclusions drawn by Trump-appointed White House Special Counsel Henry Kerner, who is expected to condemn her actions in his testimony, according to The Daily Beast.
“Her conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government,” he writes.
And more specifically, Kerner says, “Ms. Conway’s conduct reflects not a misunderstanding of the law, but rather a disregard for it."
One would expect Kellyanne Conway to want an opportunity to defend herself, but one would be wrong, possibly because she knows it cannot be defended. The United States Supreme Court has upheld its constitutionality twice. Kellyanne can posture and whine to Fox and Friends, but she doesn't have the courts on her side.
Monday, after Kellyanne complained about being silenced by an invitation to testify, the White House indicated that they would be glad to silence Conway by barring her from testifying. The Washington Post reports that Conway will be blocked from testifying on the basis that "staff in the West Wing do not testify before Congress."
Oh, well then. That might fly if staff in the West Wing did not repeatedly break the law. If Conway has been permitted to go on Fox & Friends to whine about it, it stands to reason that she can appear before Congress.
The House Oversight Committee will vote to subpoena Conway on Wednesday, the same day it will hear testimony from Mr. Kerner. And then there will be (yet another) battle in court over whether Donald Trump can raise his middle finger to Congress and the country.
Meanwhile, she'll keep tweeting, going on Fox News to make her case with a friendly jury, and charging taxpayers for her campaign activities. What a world.
