Kellyanne Conway's return to cable television met with 'biggest eye roll in history' as she defends firing of James Comey. Twitter / @CNNPolitics
Donald Trump sent his rarely-seen senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, out to defend his firing of James Comey on Tuesday night - and her explanation was greeted by what was described as "the biggest eye-roll" by the presenter "in the history of cable news".
Mrs Conway, who was a permanent fixtureon television until she invented the "the Bowling Green massacre" and coined the term "alternative facts", appeared on CNN host Anderson Cooper's late night show to defend Mr Trump.
Mrs Conway insisted that Mr Trump's praise for Mr Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's email saga as a candidate had nothing to do with his subsequent firing of Mr Comey for that exact handling of the email saga.
Kellyanne Conway on Trump's past praise for Comey: "You're conflating two things that don't belong together" https://t.co/1LAxSSoYNg
"All of a sudden, the White House is concerned about James Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's emails?" Why now are you concerned about the Hillary Clinton email investigation when as a candidate, Trump was praising it from the campaign trail?"
Mrs Conway hit back, telling Cooper: "I think you're looking at the wrong set of facts here."
When she said Mr Trump "acted decisively" on Tuesday night to remove Mr Comey, for the actions he took in July, during the election campaign, Cooper replied: "That makes no sense."
The veteran news anchor described the reasoning of the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who said Mr Comey was fired for his actions during the summer, as "bogus" and "ridiculous," asking: "You don't think it looks odd at all that the president of the United States is firing the guy who's leading the investigation into the president's White House and the people around the president?"
Mrs Conway insisted it was nothing to do with the Russia investigations, but a reaction to Mr Trump's loss of confidence in his FBI director.
Republican president-elect Donald Trump along with his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Photo / Getty
FBI directors normally serve 10-year terms.
The only time a FBI director was fired before was when Bill Clinton sacked William Sessions, who was found to have committed ethics violations - using taxpayer funds to visit his relatives and install an unnecessary security fence around his home.
When Cooper played a series of clips from the campaign trail in which Mr Trump praised Mr Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation, Mrs Conway again insisted that the two responses to the same investigation were unrelated.
"You're conflating two things that don't belong together," she said.
"Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was on your show often last fall saying we were going to win Michigan and how we were going to do it, so that was fun."
White House counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway. Photo / Getty
Cooper responded with what The Daily Beast termed "the largest eye roll from Cooper ever seen on cable news."
Cooper replied: "So that person doesn't exist anymore, candidate Donald Trump, that's a fictional character we are no longer allowed to refer to?
"We can now only refer to the Donald Trump that exists today?"
"This has nothing do with Russia. It has everything to do with whether the current FBI director has the president's confidence and can faithfully and capably execute his duties."
