Kellyanne Conway compares 'alternative facts' comments to Oscars gaffe

Senior Trump aide says she should have been able to 'brush off' mistake

Kellyanne Conway said she should have been able to 'brush off' her comments (Rex)

Kellyanne Conway, senior aide to Donald Trump, has compared her notorious “alternative facts” remark to the Oscars Best Picture blunder.

Ms Conway complained she had not been allowed to “brush off” mistakes like celebrities did.

She has drawn controversy for a number of comments while defending the Trump administration, with this particular soundbite coming when he said Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary was presenting "alternative facts" when repeating falsehoods about the size of crowds for Mr Trump's inauguration.

Asked by CBS’s Norah O’Donnell about the “alternative facts” comment, Ms Conway replied: “Well it was alternative information and additional facts. And that got conflated.

“But, you know, respectfully, Norah, I see mistakes on TV every single day and people just brush them off. Everybody thinks it’s just so funny that the wrong … movie was, you know, heralded as the winner of the Oscars.”

This year’s ceremony saw one of the most spectacular Oscars gaffes in the 89-year history of the ceremony, as an envelope mix up led to the film La La Land being announced as winner of the Best Picture catagory, instead of the real winner, Moonlight.

In the interview, to be broadcast on Sunday, Ms Conway also spoke of the need for a Presidential candidate to have “bile” in their throat.

Ms O’Donnell asked Ms Conway if she would ever consider running for President herself, to which she replied: “It’s not just [about] the fire in your belly anymore. You have to have the bile in your throat. And this is why I think many women do not run for office. Many good men and women who would.”

Ms O’Donnell asked what she meant by “bile in your throat”.

“Just to swallow so much,” Ms Conway replied, “that the country looks at you through this negative lens, you know corruption and cronyism and ‘You’re lying’ and ‘You want money and you’re motivated by power.’”

In addition to the “alternative facts” comment, Ms Conway has also been criticised for her comment about a “Bowling Green Massacre”, which suggested a terrorist attack had taken place in the American heartland but received no media attention.

While two Iraqi refugees were arrested on terrorism-related charges in the town, no attack had ever taken place there.

Ms Conway later said the remark was an “honest mistake” but it later transpired she used exactly the same comment in another interview several days earlier.