Conway says Ocasio-Cortez is ’29-year-old who doesn’t seem to know much about anything’

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway mocked Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, calling her a “29-year-old congresswoman who doesn’t seem to know much about anything.”

Conway’s criticism came during an interview on “America’s Newsroom” about possible successors to White House chief of staff John Kelly. Conway criticized Ocasio-Cortez for describing Kelly as a liar.

{mosads}”[Kelly] is in his fifth decade of public service, and this country owes him a debt of gratitude, not the nonsense that has been spewed about him recently from the left, and from this 29-year-old congresswoman who doesn’t seem to know much about anything when you ask her basic concepts about the economy, or the Middle East, or military funding,” Conway told anchor Bill Hemmer.

“[It’s] really embarrassing. And for her to even use a slur against him yesterday — I won’t repeat her name or the slur,” Conway said.

“Let me stand up for Gen. John Kelly. He has done a magnificent job for this country for almost 50 years, including here at the White House as our chief of staff for about a year and a half.”

Ocasio-Cortez in a Sunday tweet accused Kelly of having been “straight up exposed for lying” about Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who the congresswoman-elect said was owed an apology.

Kelly referred to Wilson in October last year as an “empty barrel” and charged she had boasted about securing funding for a new FBI field office in her Miami-area district during its opening ceremony. No video evidence could be found of Wilson making the claim.

“John Kelly was straight up exposed for lying about @RepWilson in comments aimed at discrediting her,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote to her 1.55 million followers on Twitter. “He absolutely owes her an apology, and his refusal to do so isn’t a sign of strength — it’s cowardice.”

John Kelly was straight up exposed for lying about @RepWilson in comments aimed at discrediting her.

He absolutely owes her an apology, and his refusal to do so isn’t a sign of strength – it’s cowardice. https://t.co/BA40Hgofvk

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 10, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez has quickly become a force in Washington, where she has used her social media account to win attention for her causes and her allies. She will formally take office in January. 

CORRECTION: An initial version of this story misquoted Conway. It has been corrected.