U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to serve as counselor to the president, his transition team said in a statement.Conway, 49, currently a senior adviser on Trump's transition team, is widely credited with helping him bring a more disciplined approach to campaigning that helped him win the November presidential election.

In her new post, Conway will play a key advisory role in the White House when Trump takes office on Jan. 20, helping to manage the New York businessman's messaging and legislative priorities, according to the statement.

Trump said Conway "played a crucial role in my victory. She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message."

In an interview with ABC News shortly after the announcement, Conway said Trump was finalizing his communications staff and was preparing to announce his choices for White House press secretary and related posts soon but gave no other details.

Asked when Trump would hold his first news conference after canceling one earlier this month, Conway avoided directly answering the question. Trump has held several rallies since winning the Nov. 8 election but has not taken formal questions from reporters.

Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" program, Conway pointed to Trump's time spent forming his Cabinet. "He's been very busy doing that," she said. </s> Kellyanne Conway Is Heading To The White House

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is headed to the White House, where she’ll serve as counselor to the president.

The announcement was made by the president-elect’s transition team early Thursday.

Conway served as Trump’s third campaign manager and is widely credited with helping guide him to victory.

She is also a frequent guest on television news programs.

Conway had said previously that she planned to move her family to Washington to serve Trump, either inside or outside the administration.

The transition team says Conway “will work with senior leadership” in the White House “to effectively message and execute the administration’s legislative priorities and actions.” </s> NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (UPI) — Donald Trump‘s transition team on Thursday announced the president-elect picked campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to serve as counselor to the president.

Conway, the first female campaign manager to win a presidential race, led Trump’s team in the final three months before the election. The top White House role will allow Conway to give Trump input on virtually any decision he makes.

“In her position, Conway will continue her role as a close adviser to the president and will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the administration’s legislative priorities and actions,” Trump transition team said in a statement. “She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message.”

Conway, who is a veteran pollster and political consultant, said she was “humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of actions and results.”

White House counselors can be very influential on a president depending on the shared rapport. Counselors can share input on nearly any issue, including domestic and foreign policy, unlike other advisers who may have a more narrow focus, such as economic advisers.

President Barack Obama currently does not have a counselor to the president. He also didn’t fill the post when he first took office, but in 2014 he named John Podesta to the role. Podesta left the administration in 2015 to serve as the chairman of Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential campaign. </s> US president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to serve as counsellor to the president, his transition team said in a statement.

Conway (49), who is currently a senior adviser on Trump’s transition team, is widely credited with helping him bring the more disciplined approach to campaigning that helped him win the November presidential election.

In her new post, Conway will play a key advisory role in the White House when Trump takes office on January 20th, helping to manage the New York businessman’s messaging and legislative priorities, according to the statement.

Mr Trump said Ms Conway “played a crucial role in my victory.

“She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message.”

In an interview with ABC News shortly after the announcement, Ms Conway said Mr Trump was finalising his communications staff and was preparing to announce his choices for White House press secretary and related posts soon.

Asked when Mr Trump would hold his first news conference after cancelling a planned conference earlier this month, Ms Conway avoided directly answering the question.

Mr Trump has held several rallies since winning the November 8th election but has not taken formal questions from reporters.

Speaking about the issue on ABC’s Good Morning America programme, Ms Conway pointed to the time Mr Trump’s has spent forming his cabinet.

“He’s been very busy doing that,” she said. </s> Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is headed to the White House, where she'll serve as counselor to the president.

The announcement was made by the president-elect's transition team early Thursday.

Conway served as Trump's third campaign manager and is widely credited with helping guide him to victory.

She is also a frequent guest on television news programs.

Conway had said previously that she planned to move her family to Washington to serve Trump, either inside or outside the administration.

The transition team says Conway "will work with senior leadership" in the White House "to effectively message and execute the administration's legislative priorities and actions."

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Trump — who also announced his senior White House communications staff, including naming former Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer as press secretary — has a strong rapport with Conway and she was seen as a positive influence on his often chaotic campaign. Conway, who took over as campaign manager in the summer, has been one of Trump’s most visible advisers, making frequent television appearances on his behalf.

“She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message,” Trump said in a statement Thursday announcing the position.

Trump is creating another power center in the West Wing by tapping Conway for the senior White House role.

He’s already named outgoing Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff and conservative media executive Steve Bannon as a senior adviser. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also be an influential adviser, though his exact role is still to be determined.

Internal rivalries have long been a hallmark of Trump’s businesses and campaign as well as his transition team. Conway and Priebus have been at odds over some major decisions, including who should serve as Trump’s secretary of state. He ultimately chose Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

Conway irritated some Trump aides with her outspoken opposition to the prospect of the president-elect picking Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, to head the State Department. She panned the idea in public, though she said she had also made her feelings known to Trump privately.

Conway, a longtime Republican pollster, considered not joining the White House staff and turned down offers to serve in a communications role. She also expressed a desire to help Trump set up an outside political organization to promote his agenda.

Conway said Thursday that she was “humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results.”

Meanwhile, Spicer’s elevation was championed by Priebus, his longtime ally at the RNC. Additionally, the transition team announced that Jason Miller will be the director of communications. Hope Hicks, the longtime campaign spokeswoman, was appointed Director of Strategic Communications while Dan Scavino will be Director of Social Media.

Hicks and Scavino were original members of Trump’s skeletal staff, joining the Republican businessman’s campaign in its early days. Miller joined after Trump became the presumptive nominee. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump's top advisers, violated federal law in two televised interviews last year by using her White House position to weigh in on a political race, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said on Tuesday.

In the interviews, one on Fox News Channel on Nov. 20 and another on Dec. 6 on CNN, Conway "impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates in the Alabama special election," the independent investigative agency said in a report it submitted to Trump for "appropriate disciplinary action."

 

 (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Tim Ahmann) </s> Throughout the 2016 presidential election campaign, two of President-elect Donald Trump's closest advisers were his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, and billionaire financier Carl Icahn.

Wednesday night, he announced Icahn would lead his administration's efforts to reduce government regulation. Thursday morning, he announced Conway would join his troika of top advisers as counselor to the president.

"Carl was with me from the beginning and with his being one of the world's great businessmen, that was something I truly appreciated," Trump said. "He is not only a brilliant negotiator, but also someone who is innately able to predict the future especially having to do with finances and economies. His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable."

"Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted adviser and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory," the president-elect added. "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."

Icahn is a New York City native and grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens. After receiving a degree in philosophy from Princeton University in 1957, he attended medical school at New York University and then joined the Army.

He began his career on Wall Street in 1961. In 1968, he formed Icahn & Co., and has gone on to become one of the most well-known and influential investors in America, holding substantial or controlling positions in numerous American companies over the years, including:

The presidential transition team issued the following statement:

Over the course of six decades, Mr. Icahn has distinguished himself as one of America's most successful businessmen and investors. Mr. Icahn was one of President-elect Trump's earliest supporters, and his intimate knowledge of what businesses need to grow and thrive makes him a trusted voice in developing President-elect Trump's America First economic agenda. Icahn will be a leader in helping American entrepreneurs shed job-killing regulations that stifle economic growth ...

His efforts have improved the competitiveness of American companies in a wide range of industries, including real estate, telecommunications, transportation, industrial services, oil refining and manufacturing.

Carl has been deeply involved in many charitable endeavors for years. In 2012, in recognition of Carl's gift of $200 million, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine was renamed the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Institute of Genomics was renamed the Icahn Genomics Institute. The School of Medicine also established the Icahn Scholars Program to attract world-class physician-scientists. He also funded the Icahn Medical Institute Building at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Institute of Genomics, a genomics and multi-scale biology research program. Carl serves as a trustee on the boards of the School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital.

In the realm of education, Carl established seven Icahn Charter Schools in the Bronx borough of New York City. The mission of the schools is based on the belief that all students deserve a rigorous academic program through which they will increase their capacity to learn. At Choate Rosemary Hall, a premiere boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut, where he previously served on the board of trustees, he endowed the Icahn Scholars Program, which has awarded a large number of scholarships to underprivileged students.

Carl has also made significant donations to the Randall's Island Sports Foundation, where he previously served as a trustee, for the construction of Icahn Stadium, a track and field stadium located on Randall's Island. In addition, he has served as a trustee on the board of Lincoln Center.

Icahn will be advising the president in his individual capacity and will not be serving as a federal employee or a special government employee and will not have any specific duties. As a result, his appointment won't require Senate confirmation.

"I am proud to serve President-elect Trump as a special advisor on regulatory reform," he said. "Under President Obama, America's business owners have been crippled by over $1 trillion in new regulations and over 750 billion hours dealing with paperwork.

"It's time to break free of excessive regulation and let our entrepreneurs do what they do best: create jobs and support communities. President-elect Trump is serious about helping American families, and regulatory reform will be a critical component of making America work again."

Conway shattered a glass ceiling during the campaign by becoming the first woman to lead a successful presidential campaign. In her new position—which was first created by President Richard Nixon and was, for a time, a Cabinet-level post—she will continue her role as a close adviser to the president and will work with senior leadership to "effectively message and execute the administration's legislative priorities and actions."

She graduated magna cum laude from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., and holds a law degree, with honors, from George Washington University Law School. She is the founder and owner of The Polling Company Inc./WomanTrend, a polling and research firm that for 21 years has served leading political figures, nonprofits and companies.

At the onset of the 2016 campaign, she was an ally of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) but was instrumental in turning around the Trump campaign in its late stages. She has since been a key figure in both the president-elect's campaign and his transition team.

"I want to thank the president-elect for this amazing opportunity," she said. "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."

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Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book. </s> JUDY WOODRUFF: President-elect Donald Trump continued to round out his White House team today, tapping two of his key campaign advisers to senior West Wing positions.

She’s been one of Donald Trump’s most visible advisers since taking over as campaign manager last summer. Today, the president-elect named Kellyanne Conway to be White House counselor.

He followed that with word that Sean Spicer will serve as White House press secretary. Spicer had been communications director for the Republican National Committee for five years. Last month, he moved over to become chief spokesman for the Trump transition.

Now, Spicer, along with Jason Miller and Hope Hicks, will handle relations with the news media, and that could be a tall order.

DONALD TRUMP (R), President-Elect: The people back there, the extremely dishonest press.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As candidate and president-elect, Mr. Trump has called out reporters in general, and at times, by name, like NBC’s Katy Tur.

DONALD TRUMP: They’re not reporting it. Katy, you’re not reporting it, Katy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Last month, he retweeted attacks on CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, after the correspondent reported on Mr. Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. And during the campaign, the Trump team at times barred “The Washington Post,” Univision, “Politico” and “BuzzFeed” from its rallies.

Reince Priebus, the incoming chief of staff, is signaling changes could be ahead for the White House press corps.

REINCE PRIEBUS, Incoming White House Chief of Staff: Even looking at things like the daily — you know, the daily White House briefing from the press secretary, I mean, there’s a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you, we’re looking at that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Still, Kellyanne Conway promised today there will be plenty of access.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, Incoming White House Counselor: You will have a great deal of press availability on a daily basis, and you’ll have a president who continues to be engaged with the press.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The president-elect has met with reporters off-the- record since the election. He has not held a news conference since late July.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For more, we’re joined now by Brian Stelter. He’s senior media correspondent for CNN. And Jeff Mason, he’s a White House correspondent for “Reuters”, and he’s president of the White House Correspondents Association.

Welcome to both of you.

Jeff Mason, to you first. Based on what you’ve seen of Donald Trump so far, both the campaign and the transition, what do you expect from him when it comes to press relations?

JEFF MASON, Reuters: Well, Judy, we’re sort of going to wait and see right now. We’re pleased to see and we congratulate the new members of Donald Trump’s press team going into the White House and we look forward to working with them. Certainly, there have been some challenges between the media and the Trump team during his campaign, but we’ve made a lot of progress during transition in working on that relationship and setting up a protective pool, for example.

So, I am cautiously optimistic that we will continue to make that progress once they’re in the White House.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Brian Stelter, we know there has been attention on some difficulties between the Trump team and the news media. Do you think it’s been very different from other presidential nominees and people who’ve run for president and people who’ve served in the White House?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN: On the surface, actually, there are a lot of similarities, right? The transitions having daily conference calls with reporters, it is putting out press releases. Donald Trump has given a couple of interviews. He, of course, has not held a press conference in many months, but he’s given a couple of interviews.

I would say, on the surface however, Donald Trump continues to wage an anti-media war, a campaign against the press by complaining about the dishonesty of journalists, by attacking individual journalists and institutions on Twitter. He’s doing exactly the same sorts of things he was doing during his presidential campaign and this reasonably, they’ll continue to do that when he’s in the White House.

You know, he told me in June, he would not be black listing reporters from the White House press briefing room, for example. He has indicated he will make some changes once he’s actually in the Oval Office. But this anti-media campaign, I think we should expect it to continue.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How worried — how concerned are you, Jeff Mason, about that?

JEFF MASON: I mean, I’ll call it cautious optimism. We’re not naive about the challenges that the press corps faces, but I base it on the fact that we’ve made a lot of progress just in the last several weeks since the election on setting up a protective pool, for example. You may remember shortly after the election, President-elect Trump came to Washington without a pool of journalists.

JEFF MASON: He went out for dinner one night in New York without a pool.

Since then, we’ve got a pool in place. It’s not perfect. It’s not on his plane, for example, but we expect that to change once he’s on Air Force One and we expect a full White House protective pool to be in place once he’s in office.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Brian Stelter, certainly, the three of us understand this being part of the news media, but for the public watching, why — what are they to believe about what a president’s real obligation is to the press? Why shouldn’t a president feel free to do whatever he wants, talk over the heads of the press, if he wants to?

BRIAN STELTER: Yes, we should do a better job as an industry explaining how press freedom is your freedom. It’s the freedom of the viewers watching this program, that we are only there at the White House working for them. And I know sometimes there is a disconnect, a grave disconnect, and we need to work to reestablish that connection.

You know, we’re not in the business of making assumptions, right? We should not be assuming the worst about a Trump presidency nor should we be assuming the best. Journalists should not make assumptions.

But journalism lawyers, journalism advocates do have a sense of what the worst-case scenarios are here. It doesn’t mean blacklisting reporters from the White House press briefing, which the new press secretary Sean Spicer says will not happen, which Trump said will not happen. It could be IRS tax audits of journalists. It could be revoking FCC licenses. It could be defunding public media. It could be using the Espionage Act against journalists to prosecute them for investigative reporting.

These are all things that are feasible, that are possible. I’m not saying it’s going to a happen, but certainly, First Amendment lawyers are focusing on these issues now, preparing for worst-case scenarios with Trump, given how anti-media he has been during the campaign.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jeff Mason, how would you describe what the president’s obligation is to the news media? I mean, the First Amendment talks about don’t do anything to abridge freedom of the press, but what does that really mean today?

JEFF MASON: Well, certainly, the way we view that is making it possible for reporters to do their jobs, and that means having access to the president himself, it means having access to his staff and not only his communications staff, but also other senior advisors. And that’s something that the White House Correspondents Association will continue to press for and, honestly, you know, Judy, that’s an issue we have been pushing for with every president, and there is always a little bit of tension there. Regardless of what party the president comes from, there is always going to be a little bit of a tense relationship between the press and the administration, and we anticipate that.

But we, to answer your question, certainly expect that upholding the rights and the freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution in that First Amendment include allowing the press to do its job.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Brian Stelter, what does Donald — the president-elect’s choice of these individuals to be in the press operation, his press secretary, Sean Spicer, the others he’s named in the communications office, what does that tell you about what his approach will be? Other presidents have sometimes gone to a former journalist —

BRIAN STELTER: There is talk about a FOX News host, for example, as press secretary or Laura Ingraham, the conservative talk radio host. Instead, he’s going with a veteran of Washington, Sean Spicer, well known in the press corps. He is someone who will reply to emails, who will respond, he can also be combative. And certainly, Donald Trump would embrace that about Sean Spicer.

But he is going with someone who’s a veteran, who knows D.C. But I think we should make no mistake about this, I respect Jeff’s cautious optimism. But Donald Trump is different from what we’ve seen in modern times from presidents. The indications that we’ve gotten and we’ve received over the 18 months of his campaign is that he will restrict access, he will attack and ridicule the press, and he will say things that are flatly untrue when it’s very obvious things are untrue.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about these tweets today from the president-elect. Just late this afternoon, he tweeted, quote, “Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35,” which is a fighter jet, he said, “I’ve asked Boeing to cost out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet.”

So, Jeff Mason, when you look at this, when you look at the tweet earlier today where he talks about the need for the United States to beef up its nuclear capabilities, what does this say in terms of the news media and its ability to, frankly, keep up with what this president is trying to do, this president-elect is trying to do?

JEFF MASON: Well, it is certainly the case that previous White Houses, especially the Obama White House with the age of social media, have used Twitter and other bits of social media to get their message out. But President-elect Donald Trump has taken that to a whole new level, and you’re right to say, how will the media adjust to that?

So far, it’s been an adjustment in terms of just reporting out those tweets when they come, and I think Brian was right, too, when he talked about fact checking, and sometimes certainly the president-elect has tweeted things that are not correct and the media has for the most part tried to do its job of saying when that is the case. But it is a challenge and something that I think reporters and news organizations will be grappling with not just during the transition but in the months to come once he’s working from the White House.

BRIAN STELTER: In the fall, he said he was going to be restrained with Twitter once in the Oval Office. But we haven’t seen that in this transition period. If anything, we’ve seen Donald Trump, the same person he was in the 1980s, doing deals, doing business in New York city, now doing it on the global stage.

You know, Judy, this contract for the F-35 was done years ago, of course, with the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin. It’s going to take days to decipher what he’s trying to say on Twitter, but trying to create the sense of a bidding war. I mean, this is exactly what his voters wanted to see crump do and he’s using Twitter in an entirely new way to do it.

And, by the way, you know, Sean Spicer, the new press secretary, says this will continue once Trump is in the White House. We’ll see about that idea that he’s going to be more restrained once he’s in charge.
President-elect Donald Trump names his former presidential campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as his Counselor to the President.