Conway: Ethics Complaints Still Possible Despite Office Changes

House Republicans' plans to put the Office of Congressional Ethics under the oversight of the House Committee on Ethics, does not mean there will be no mechanism for ethics complaints, President-elect Donald Trump's incoming presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway insisted Tuesday morning.

"This was in reaction to a 2008 scandal," she told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," explaining she has not spoken to Trump about the vote.

"There have been about 100 or so complaints since, only a third of which have been referred to the House by this committee. I think one thing they are trying to curb is the abuse of the process that has led to some of those being investigated, either House members or their staffers and witnesses."

If the bid passes a full-House vote, she continued, it will mean the end of anonymous tips, and "if you want to come forward as constituent, you can do that, but you have to show evidence, some grounding."

Conway said she does think the vote caught some people by surprise, as it was conducted with "blind ballot." However, the full House will vote Tuesday, and there are Democrats and some Republicans who object to the measure.

Conway would not say if she favors the plan, but explained she was answering a question over whether it was consistent with Trump's call to "drain the swamp."

But she also doesn't think the measure will have the effect of shielding poor behavior in Washington as Republicans take control of both the House and Senate, as well as the White House, for the first time in nine years.

"It's a very exciting time," she said. "These folks have a mandate from the public to repeal and replace Obamacare. President Obama was located in 2008, then elections after, that the only time Democrats won after that was in 2012 because Republicans weren't really able to talk about repealing and replacing Obamacare as much in 2012."

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