George Conway to take part in MSNBC impeachment hearing coverage

Lawyer and frequent Trump critic George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, appeared Wednesday on MSNBC ahead of the first public impeachment hearings. 

Conway’s coverage on MSNBC is particularly noteworthy because, while he has written multiple op-eds for The Washington Post and is active on Twitter, he has not appeared on television in any commentating capacity since President Trump took office in January 2017. 

Conway said Wednesday that Trump was using his power to help himself instead of the country.

{mosads}”The problem with Donald Trump is, he always sees himself first. Trump is all about Trump,” the conservative lawyer said.”That’s what this is all about. He was using the power of the presidency in its most unchecked area, foreign affairs, to advance his own personal interest as opposed to the country’s.”

He also criticized Republicans for defending Trump. 

“Take that Republican hat off and look at it neutrally,” he said. “Look at what you would have done if Donald Trump were a Democrat. Would you be making these ridiculous arguments about process?”

“If Barack Obama had done this, they’d be out for blood, and they’d be right,” he added. 

Conway also addressed the infrequency of his TV appearances. 

“I don’t, frankly, want to be on television. But I just don’t get why people can’t see this and why people are refusing to see this. It’s appalling to me,” he said. 

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said that Conway would “be with us throughout the day.”

Appearing for public testimony in the impeachment hearing Wednesday are William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the State Department. 

The House launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump in September over his dealings with Ukraine. Republicans have complained about the process, including the closed-door nature of some past hearings. 

Conway recently tweeted that he believes a tweet by Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani confirms that Trump “committed an impeachable offense.”

“To say that Giuliani’s and Trump’s pursuit of ‘Ukrainian … corruption’ was ‘done solely’ to protect Trump’s interests establishes that Trump was not acting for the country,” he wrote last week. 

Joe Concha contributed.