Conway racked up consulting gigs last year, financial forms show

by Megan R. Wilson - 03/31/17 11:29 PM ET

Kellyanne Conway made 10 paid speaking gigs and held down 66 consulting clients in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign, according to newly disclosed financial disclosure forms.

The counselor to President Donald Trump, who had also worked on his campaign, had a slew of conservative clients: Freedom Partners, the National Rifle Association, the Right to Life Committee, Citizens United, the Tea Party Patriots, and the Judicial Crisis Network, which is now running adds and hiring lobbyists to urge support in the Senate for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Overall, she earned more than $800,000 in income from her firm, The Polling Company/WomanTrend, last year.

At least $50,000 of that came from speaking engagements. She gave 10 last year, each worth at least $5,000, though forms do not specify amounts.

{mosads}Some of those include the Indiana Energy Association; Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm; National Ocean Industries Association, an industry group for offshore drilling companies; Point 72 Asset Management, a hedge fund that changed its name after it paid a record $1.2 billion penalty to the government in 2013 for insider trading violations.

Conway also consulted for the Center for Medical Progress, a controversial anti-abortion group that released highly edited undercover videos attempting to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sold aborted fetal parts. (A grand jury in Texas cleared Planned Parenthood of all wrongdoing; the two people behind the videos had charges dropped against them in Texas but are now facing new felony charges in California.)

There are not dates on any of the speaking fees or consulting fees listed in her disclosure.

During the 2016 campaign, she consulted for several other political entities.

Among those listed on forms are the campaigns of Reps. Rod Blum (R-Iowa), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), and Gary Palmer (R-Ind.), the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Eric Holcomb, who replaced Vice President Mike Pence as governor of Indiana.

She also did consulting work for Keep the Promise, a network of super-PACs formed to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in his bid for the White House and Trusted Leadership PAC, another super-PAC that backed Cruz.

Conway championed Cruz’s campaign until he dropped out of the race in June. She then went to work for Trump, who she had criticized earlier in the year as “a man who seems to be offending his way to the nomination.”

Her net worth is in the millions.

Her husband, George Coway, is a partner at law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York. His investments and retirement accounts through the firm are worth more than $2 million, forms say.

It was reported earlier this month that he has been chosen to lead the Justice Department’s civil division.

Money market funds add another $6 million to the Conways’ minimum net worth, and could be valued at as much as $30 million. They hold stock in Altria Group, Kraft Heinz, Pfizer, Philip Morris and Mondelez, which is known for brands like Oreo, Nabisco, Cadbury and Trident.

The Conways have a checking account containing $500,000 to $1 million and no liabilities.

Tags Donald Trump Mike Pence Ted Cruz