Kellyanne Conway allegedly assaulted in restaurant in October
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway alleged in an interview with CNN that she was assaulted in a restaurant in October by a woman who was later identified by authorities as Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, a 63-year-old Chevy Chase, Maryland resident. Conway said that she was dining with her middle school-aged daughter at Uncle Julio's, a restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, when the woman approached her.
"Somebody was grabbing me from behind, grabbing my arms, and was shaking me to the point where I felt maybe somebody was hugging me," Conway said in the interview with CNN. "She was out of control. I don't even know how to explain her to you. She was just, her whole face was terror and anger. She was right here, and my daughter was right there. She ought to pay for that."
Inabinett was then escorted out of the restaurant, but was later charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct after an investigation. She is scheduled to appear in state court in Maryland next month.
Inabinett has denied the charges. Her attorney, William Alden McDaniel Jr., said in a statement to CBS News that "Ms. Inabinett saw Kellyanne Conway, a public figure, in a public place, and exercised her First Amendment right to express her personal opinions." McDaniel said that Inabinett did not assault Conway.
"The suspect was yelling 'shame on you' and other comments believed to be about Conway's political views," a police corporal wrote in a charging document based on an interview with the restaurant's manager, CNN reported.
Conway listed this incident as further evidence of members of the Trump administration being harassed because of their political views.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was told to leave a Lexington, Virginia, restaurant in June. Sanders said on Twitter that the owner of the Red Hen in the Shenandoah Valley asked her to leave because she works for President Trump.