Donald Trump’s inner circle is seizing on the news that Kellyanne Conway has registered as a foreign agent for a Ukrainian oligarch to argue she has no loyalty to the MAGA movement.
“Nobody has any respect for her,” a source close to the Trump campaign told NOTUS, calling Conway a “mercenary.”
“I guess she’s cashing in,” this source continued.
An informal adviser to Trump who also spoke to NOTUS argued Conway’s decision would ruin her standing with the former president.
“She’s been pushing Trump to bring her back in, and meanwhile, she’s getting paid by the Ukrainians,” an informal adviser to Trump told NOTUS. “Basically, it’s a hostile takeover attempt by the Ukrainian government.”
The informal adviser accused Conway of choosing to “sell out the entire movement for $50,000 a month.”
“There’s no way that Trump can keep her around when she’s that much of a liability,” this person said, adding that every time Conway said something to Trump, “he’s going to have to wonder, ‘Is this Kellyanne Conway talking or is this Zelenskyy.’”
Another source close to the former president pointed out that Trump hasn’t really been listening to Conway since he left office. This person took it as a sign that she was losing sway with the former president and said this might be the final straw.
“The president has kept her at arm’s length since she left the White House, and the leaks immediately slowed down,” the source close to Trump said. “She can post on Twitter about how important she is, but Trump already didn’t listen to her much, and this is the final nail in the coffin.”
Conway was one of the main people lobbying the former president to choose either Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina or Marco Rubio of Florida as his running mate. (Against Conway’s advice, Trump went with Ohio Sen. JD Vance.)
She controversially lobbied on behalf of TikTok, after Trump spent years criticizing the app — which is associated with the Chinese government — and even trying to ban it. (Trump has once again switched his stance on banning the app and has become one of its most vocal supporters.)
But with her new contract to lobby for a Ukrainian oligarch’s philanthropic operation, those closest to Trump are more outraged than ever, sources told NOTUS.
Conway’s contract is with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation — the charitable organization of Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk — for $50,000 a month, according to records filed with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Pinchuk made a $150,000 donation to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in September 2015 in exchange for Trump making a 20-minute virtual appearance at the Yalta European Strategy Conference.
While Conway may be able to claim she’s focusing on the charitable side of Pinchuk’s efforts, those FARA records indicate that Conway’s work will include “raising awareness among US decision makers of Ukrainians’ fight for freedom and the Russian illegal war of aggression” and engaging “US lawmakers, experts and opinion makers to explain the importance of Ukraine to the rules-based order and the protection of democratic principles.”
The Ukrainian government “is the principal beneficiary of the registrant’s activities directed by the foreign principal,” according to the FARA documents.
Those descriptions of her work — that it’s directly related to Ukraine’s fight for freedom against Russia and that the Ukrainian government is “the principal beneficiary” — were being passed around Trumpworld over the weekend.
But a person with knowledge of the scope of the work said the contract “has nothing to do with dollars and cents,” nor does it include “legislation or appropriations.” Rather, it’s all “humanitarian,” this person claimed.
The person added the contract had been in the works since back in the spring.
Still, that may do little to ease Trumpworld’s concerns.
Earlier last week, The Bulwark reported that Trump allies believe Conway was going around “badmouthing” Vance and leaking material against him. She denied the allegations in the report.
“I’m not anti-Vance. I was pro-Rubio,” she told The Bulwark.
The Ohio senator, who is now Trump’s running mate, has been one of the most vocal advocates against sending more money to Ukraine as it tries to fend off a Russian invasion.
Spokespeople for the Trump and Vance campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment. But the source close to the Trump campaign said Conway’s decision to lobby for Ukraine was now calling into question why she was so against Vance as a vice presidential pick.
“He’s been the most vocal person about ending the war; now we find out she’s on their payroll,” this source said. “There’s almost no question about that; she’s a part of the rest of the neocon machine. This is just par for the course.”
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.