A Maryland state’s attorney’s office confirmed Monday it had dropped charges against a woman accused of assaulting White House aide Kellyanne Conway.
“It is the best resolution for all parties concerned,” Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for the Montgomery County state’s attorney’s office, said. “The defendant in this matter did apologize to the victim in this matter and did so in a recent letter.”
CNN first reported on the incident earlier this year, when Conway told CNN’s Dana Bash that a woman grabbed and shook her while she was out with her teenage daughter at a Maryland restaurant last fall.
Conway, a top aide to President Donald Trump, said in the interview that the woman had grabbed her from behind and shook her, and described the woman as “out of control.”
“She ought to pay for that,” Conway said.
Conway said she called 911, and after an investigation, Mary Elizabeth Inabinett was charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. Inabinett’s attorney told CNN earlier this year that she had not assaulted Conway.
CNN has reached out to the White House and Conway for comment.
A person familiar with the case said it was not uncommon for the state’s attorney to act as a mediator.
“The defendant realizes she was wrong to interrupt a little girl’s birthday party,” the person said.
Investigators interviewed some 10 people and went over video of the incident, determining that the defendant grabbed Conway’s elbow to get attention, said the source, who called it “de minimis touching” — a term conferring minor status to the incident.
“Everybody realized let’s just not waste the court’s resources on case like this,” added the person familiar with the case.