When asked by a reporter Tuesday about Donald Trump’s tweets suggesting that four congresswomen of color “go back” to the countries they “originally” came from, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway responded, “What’s your ethnicity?”
The exchange between Conway and Breakfast Media’s Andrew Feinberg was captured on video and shared widely across Twitter, where it trended. Conway used the app to respond, quote-tweeting a post from NBC News: “This was meant with no disrespect. We are all from somewhere else ‘originally.’ I asked the question to answer the question and volunteered my own ethnicity: Italian and Irish.”
“Like many, I am proud of my ethnicity, love the USA & grateful to God to be an American,” she continued.
Feinberg himself tweeted he’d originally asked “which countries [Trump] was referring to” when he suggested Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib “go back.” All except Omar were born in the United States.
“She responded by asking me where my ancestors came from, thereby confirming what he meant,” he wrote.
Also on Twitter, Feinberg said when asked that he did not believe Conway was being anti-Semitic. Conway thanked Feinberg in a response.
As for why the exchange, which Feinberg called “bizarre,” got so much online traction, he told TheWrap, “I’d say the way the exchange went viral shows how strongly folks feel about the President’s comments. I’m glad I’ve been able to play a part in helping keep Americans informed, because that’s the job all of us who cover the White House are there to do.”
Conway did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.