Conway Laments Migrant Family Separation 'as a Catholic'

Kellyanne Conway says "nobody likes" the migrant-family separation policy but insists it's not just a bargaining chip for the Trump administration, the Hill reports. "As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who's got a conscience … I will tell you that nobody likes this policy," Conway said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "Congress passed the law that it is a crime to enter this country illegally. So if they don’t like that law, they should change it." But she denied the bargaining-chip angle as President Trump and Congress tussle over immigration laws: "I certainly don’t want anybody to use these kids as leverage," she added, per Politico. "I saw a headline that breathlessly screamed as much and I object to that very forcefully." In other talk around the Sunday dial:

• More on the children: "Just be a dad," Rep. Luis Gutierrez urged Trump on CNN regarding the separation policy, per the Hill. "I'm sure you love your children. Love these children the same way you love your own." Sen. Susan Collins sounded a similar note, calling the separations "inconsistent" with US values on CBS' Face the Nation, reports the Hill. "That is traumatizing to children who are innocent victims."

• Steve Bannon's back: "Donald Trump is accomplishing everything he committed to the American people on the campaign that I stepped in as CEO," said the former Trump advisor on ABC's This Week, per Politico. "I couldn’t be prouder of the guy." The Hill reports that Bannon was asked if Trump ever lies, and he responded, "Not to my knowledge, no. Except when he called me 'Sloppy Steve.'"
• What pardons? Appearing on CNN, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tackled the topic of Trump possibly issuing pardons in the Russia probe, Politico reports. "And my advice to him, as long as I’m his lawyer, is not to do it," he said. "Because you just cloud what is becoming now a very clear picture of an extremely unfair investigation with no criminality involved of any kind."
• North Korea: Sen. Jack Reed called it "preposterous" for Trump to say North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat, the Hill reports. "North Korea is a nuclear threat," Reed said on Fox News Sunday. "The president’s statement was absolutely, in my view, preposterous."

• Hillary's emails: Rep. Adam Schiff called it "deeply disturbing" that Rep. Devin Nunes saw classified FBI information on Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016, per the Hill. "This is the first that we've heard about it, and it is deeply disturbing because if this was shared by New York field agents with Devin Nunes, was it also shared with Rudy Giuliani?" he asked on Meet the Press. "Or did Devin Nunes do something, which we have seen subsequently, which is coordinated with the Trump team?"
• Fear of Trump: Rep. Mark Sanford said on Meet the Press that he lost his primary election in South Carolina because he wasn't "Trump enough," per Politico. "People are running for cover because they don't want to be on the losing side of a presidential tweet," he said. "The idea that you can't speak out and say, 'I disagree with you here, but I agree with you on 90% of the stuff' ... is, again, a twilight world that I've never seen."

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