WASHINGTON — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said in a recent interview with CNN that she was physically assaulted in October at a Mexican restaurant in Maryland. A woman has been charged in the case, CNN reported.
Kellyanne Conway (Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford)
Conway said that she was at dinner with her teenage daughter and her daughter’s friends at an Uncle Julio’s in Bethesda when a woman approached her from behind, grabbed her arms and shook her so hard that “I thought maybe somebody was hugging me.”
Conway told that she quickly realized “it felt like it was a little aggressive.”
“I turned around and the woman had grabbed my hands,” Conway added. “She was just unhinged. She was out of control. I don’t even know how to explain her to you. She was just, her whole face was terror and anger. She was right here, and my daughter was right there. And she ought to pay for that . . . because she has no right to touch anybody.”
Conway could not immediately be reached Friday by The Washington Post.
CNN reported that police said the woman is a 63-year-old Maryland resident.
According to CNN:
“Conway said she called 911, though the woman had left before local police arrived. After an investigation, Mary Elizabeth Inabinett was charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. A trial is set for March in Maryland state court.
“Inabinett’s lawyer, William Alden McDaniel Jr., disputed Conway’s story and the assault allegations, and said his client would plead not guilty in court next month.
“‘Ms. Inabinett saw Kellyanne Conway, a public figure, in a public place, and exercised her First Amendment right to express her personal opinions. She did not assault Ms. Conway. The facts at trial will show this to be true, and show Ms. Conway’s account to be false,’ McDaniel said in a statement.”
Conway has reported being heckled in the past, not long after she moved to Washington.
The recent incident allegedly occurred in Montgomery County, where Hillary Clinton captured nearly 75 percent of the votes in 2016. Fewer than 20 percent of ballots were cast for Trump in the county.
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