In another attempt to silence her daughter, Kellyanne Conway, former White House aide to Donald Trump, allegedly posted a topless photo of Claudia Conway on Twitter on Monday. Claudia has gained quite a following on TikTok for her raw videos opposing Trump and the Republican Party as well as against her mother for supporting both.
In a number of videos posted to Claudia’s social media account, Kellyanne has consistently abused her daughter verbally. But this incident takes her abuse even further, endangering the welfare of a child. According to Variety, screenshots posted by users on social media confirmed that Kellyanne, under her account @KellyannePolls, shared an image of her 16-year-old daughter topless using Twitter’s Fleets feature. The feature is similar to Instagram Stories, allowing users to post photos that are automatically deleted after 24 hours.
While the photos are deleted within this timeframe, users are able to document photos by screenshotting them while they’re still live. How long the picture was visible, how many people saw it, and when it was deleted are not clear. Kellyanne has more than 3 million Twitter followers, all of whom had the ability to view the nude photo.
While Twitter claims that it has a "zero-tolerance child sexual exploitation policy" regardless of the intent of viewing, sharing, or linking to child pornography, Kellyanne has not yet been removed from the platform. According to BuzzFeed News, when asked about Kellyanne’s removal from the platform, a spokesperson from Twitter said: “Through technology and human review, we’ll proactively remove any images that violate the Twitter Rules.”
Under federal law, posting a photo of a nude teenager, whether intentional or accidental, is an act of child pornography, which is illegal.
In videos posted to TikTok on Monday, Claudia first lashed out at people for spreading this information, assuming it was a rumor. She later posted confirming that the picture was “real,” adding that her mom must have stolen it during one of the times Kellyanne took her daughter’s phone.
“Apparently that’s real and so here’s what I guess happened. The picture is from months ago and I’m assuming that when my mom took my phone … anytime she’s taken it, she takes it all the time, she took a picture of that. So that was on her phone and I guess she accidentally posted it or somebody hacked her, but nobody would ever have any photo like that, ever. So, Kellyanne, you’re going to fucking jail,” Claudia said in one of the videos. While the videos have since been deleted, Twitter users reposted copies of the videos.
The incident follows a series of videos Claudia shared to her TikTok last week alleging that her mother has been “physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive” towards her.
The videos from Jan. 19 depict Kellyanne not only shouting at but cursing, belittling, and even seemingly hitting her daughter. “Fuck you! ...Bitch … If you only knew what people thought of you,” Kellyanne can be heard saying. "You're lucky your mom's pro-life."
In the video documenting the behavior, Claudia added that while she has “hundreds of videos,” she “couldn't fit it all into a 60-second video. They are hours and hours and hours long," she explained. "And it’s clearly my mom." After widespread concern, on Jan. 20 Claudia said she would “release the full clips.”
"I’m not looking to hate on my mom, I just think it’s important to tell my side of the story and my experience. I was just going through some videos, I have hundreds and hundreds of videos just like that and I thought it was important because as a woman who has such power in this country I don’t think people really know how she is," Claudia explained in one of the videos.
Other videos depicted police officials and Child Protective Services arriving at the home, but nothing came from the visits, Claudia said. Law enforcement officials confirmed with TMZ that a welfare check was conducted on the family.
After sharing these personal, vulnerable moments, Claudia expressed her fear of sharing such information on social media. “I’m extremely scared after posting that, very anxious, don’t know what’s about to happen. She’s probably going to publicly say that she’s not abusive and what not, but that’s kind of what manipulators do and narcissists do,” Claudia said according to Vox. “I’m not looking for attention, I’m not looking for anything, I’m just in a situation that’s really physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive and I think it’s important that everybody sees that.”
Claudia later deleted the videos and explained why in a later post. “I don’t think any of you understand what it’s like to be in the situation I’m in,” she said. “I posted those hoping I would get some sort of help. But nothing is gonna happen so I deleted them in fear of getting gaslighted and manipulated.” While the videos were deleted from Claudia’s account, Twitter users copied them onto the platform.
But these incidents from earlier this month aren’t the first time Claudia has openly asked for help. The teenager expressed a wish for emancipation from her parents over alleged “trauma and abuse” in August 2020 as well.
In her latest video on TikTok posted Tuesday, Claudia shared that she would be taking a break from social media. “I have faith and I know that my mother would never put something like that on the internet, as well as me,” Claudia said. “We would never do that. My mom and I always fight like mothers and daughters, but we also love with mothers and daughters. And I do love her.”
Following the events Claudia has shared on the internet, we can only hope she is safe and her allegations are taken seriously.
Child abuse is a serious issue that occurs in the form of neglect, emotional, physical, and other abuses. To learn more about how you can recognize this problem and stop the cycle of abuse, resources are available here.