Government

Kellyanne Says White House Staff Sign NDAs -- Lawyer Points Out That's Probably Unconstitutional

Why is she making things worse?

By  
on

Kellyanne Conway (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Kellyanne Conway show is a relatively predictable comedy routine unleashed on Americans every weekend. Some news show brings her on to explain away the latest embarrassing yet totally predictable consequence of installing a half-wit in the Oval Office and then she somehow, some way, manages to make everything worse. Rudy Giuliani may be stealing all the headlines for self-destructive interviews these days, but he’s just a pale imitation. This is Kellyanne’s game.

Buried in her weekend interview with This Week — the one where she visibly squirmed when asked if there’s any black people on the West Wing staff — was a gem where she denied Omarosa’s claim, in her new tell-all book about the administration, that she was offered $15K to keep quiet about the goings-on inside the White House. Kellyanne explained that one away by saying it wasn’t “hush money,” it was just money offered to keep someone quiet. Specifically, an NDA:

“It is typical, and you know it, to sign an NDA … in any place of work,” Conway, counselor to the president, said to host Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week.” “I’d be shocked if you didn’t have one at ABC.”

“I’m told she signed them when she was on ‘The Apprentice,’ certainly at the campaign. We’ve all signed them in the West Wing,” she added. “And why wouldn’t we?”

When Karl noted that Conway is a public employee, Conway said, “But confidentiality is implied.”

Karl’s point, seemingly lost on Conway, is that presidents can’t go around asking public employees to keep quiet, much less paying them to do so. Public accountability doesn’t work like that, which attorney Mark Zaid was quick to point out:

So, to recap, in an effort to dismiss Omarosa’s gossipy book, Kellyanne has told the world that the White House is making the whole staff sign NDAs ripe for legal challenge. A completely unforced error — it’s not hard to just say, “nothing she says is true” and be done with it. But Kellyanne just can’t help but drag in the NDA policy and make everyone realize we’re treating public employees like porn star mistresses.

Sponsored

Rich people who misbehave love NDAs and the Michael Cohen affair shows that Trump is no exception. But did this administration really not have a single attorney on hand to point out that serving as president is different than serving as the head of a cut-rate steak branding company? That public employees have obligations that extend beyond the individual holding the office? No one mentioned any of this?

Alas, here we are. I guess the moral of the story is that if you’re working in the White House and planning a tell-all book, you have a free lawyer now.

UPDATE: As this was being published, Trump has doubled down on Kellyanne’s take:

Yes… not, “it’s untrue” but “she signed an NDA.” That shouldn’t raise red flags at all.

Sponsored

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

Topics

, , , , ,