Comparing President-elect Donald Trump’s continued Celebrity Apprentice role with President Barack Obama’s golf hobby, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended her boss today on CNN. She suggested Trump might give his Apprentice salary to charity or decline to take it, but insisted she hadn’t spoken to him of the matter.
“Presidents have a right to do things in their spare time,” Conway told CNN New Day host Alisyn Camerota. After calling Trump “a very transparent guy,” Conway said, “Everyone can see what he’s doing, and the fact is that he is conferring with all types of experts who tell him what he can do and not do as President of the United States. If this [Apprentice] is one of the approved activities, then perhaps he will consider staying on.”
Conway didn’t address the conflict of interest aspects of Trump’s ongoing role on the NBC program, but repeatedly pivoted to the “spare time” issue.
“Were we so concerned about the hours and hours and hours spent on the golf course of the current president?,” she said. “I mean presidents have a right to do things in their spare time, in their leisure time.”
CNN’s website reports that White House spokesman Eric Schultz dismissed the comparison. “I’m not quite sure that analogy holds any water, but look that’s going to be a question for the President-elect’s team, and maybe our friends from NBC, about how that relationship might work.”
Trump’s executive producer credit drew plenty of attention on Twitter, with pundits, entertainers and even Mad Magazine weighing in. Here are a few of the lighter takes.
