Conservative lawyer-turned-Democratic candidate George Conway delivered a blistering critique of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing him of running the federal government “like a mob operation” rather than a democracy accountable to the public.

Speaking on CNN’s “AC360” with Anderson Cooper, Conway said Trump’s return to power has deepened what he described as an ongoing assault on democratic institutions and the rule of law.

“You would have thought that January 6 would have been the height of his criminality, but it’s worse now he is running the United States government like a mob operation not a government of the people, by the people, for the people,” Conway said.

He added, “We have a government of the boss, by the boss, and for the boss, it’s all for him, and that hurts people, and it’s threatening to our democracy, threatening to the rule of law.”

Conway made the remarks as he officially launched his campaign for Congress in New York, announcing his bid on the fifth anniversary of the Capitol riot. He is seeking the House seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who is retiring, setting up what is expected to be a competitive Democratic primary in a heavily liberal district.

Once a prominent conservative attorney, Conway gained national recognition during Trump’s first administration for his outspoken opposition to the president, even as he was married to then–White House adviser Kellyanne Conway. Since then, he has become a frequent cable news commentator and a vocal critic of Trump’s leadership and legal record.

“These are the lies of a criminal. The message I’m sending is that the President of the United States is a criminal,” Conway told Cooper.

“He’s not just a convicted criminal. He should have been convicted for the crimes that he led on January 6, as Jack Smith demonstrated in his recent testimony,” he added.

Beyond Trump himself, Conway also took aim at Republican lawmakers, accusing them of failing to act as a constitutional check on executive power while Americans remain focused on foreign policy, trade pressures, and affordability concerns.

“They are spineless, shameless people who have abdicated their constitutional response they have as members of Congress, as members of the House and members of the Senate,” Conway said. “They have the obligation to remove a criminal president, and they had the obligation in 2021, to make sure that the criminal president who would just lift office could never take office again. And they abdicated that responsibility.”

Conway’s campaign positions him as a staunch institutionalist running on accountability, democratic norms, and opposition to Trump’s governing style — a message likely to resonate with many voters in Nadler’s district, even as it intensifies an already crowded primary field.

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