Kellyanne Conway Accepts White House Counselor Role to President-Elect Trump

President-elect Trump’s former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign, will be joining the White House team as counselor to the president.

“Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted adviser and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory,” said Trump in a statement. “She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing.”

Trump formerly asked Conway to serve as White House press secretary, but she accepted a broader role of counselor to advise him on all matters.

Conway will “continue her role as a close advisor to the president and will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the Administration’s legislative priorities and actions,” according to Trump’s transition team.

“I want to thank the president-elect for this amazing opportunity,” said Conway in a statement. “A Trump presidency will bring real change to Washington and to Americans across this great nation. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results.”

Even though previously Conway hinted that she would not be relocating her family, including her four children, to Washington, she said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “it’s very difficult to say no,” to working in the White House, “and the president-elect is a very persuasive man.”

Her counselor role makes her the highest-ranking woman in the White House.

However, not everyone thinks she has the time, as a mother of four, to take on this role, including Juan Williams of Fox News.

Conway was quick to respond to these concerns.

“Well, I would just tell everyone not to go after Juan because I don’t want him to be creamed,” said Conway on a morning interview on Fox Business. “But I would say that I don’t play golf, and I don’t have a mistress so I have a lot of time that a lot of these other men don’t. I see people on the weekend spending a lot of time with their golf game. And that’s their right, but the kids will be with me. We live in the same house. The kids come first, but everybody needs to do what’s best for their family.”

Not to mention, Conway has always been able to maintain a successful career while raising a full family.

She worked many years in the polling business and then later worked with politicians including Senator Fred Thompson, former Vice President Dan Quayle, Congressman Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich and the soon-to-be Vice President Mike Pence. She was even Gingrich’s senior advisor during his 2012 presidential campaign.

On July 1, 2016, Trump announced he had hired Conway as a senior advisor and in August 2016, she became Trump’s third campaign manager. She was the first woman to run a Republican election.

Although Trump was rather behind Hillary Clinton in the election, Conway was instrumental to changing his campaign’s messaging and ultimately helped him get elected.