Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump as president, and her husband George Conway, who became a vociferously anti-Trump Republican, are to divorce, the Washington power couple announced on Saturday.

The confirmation of the split is unlikely to surprise many in the politics-watching classes as, during the Trump administration, their public positions on the divisive rightwing president diverged quickly and radically.

Kellyanne was Trump’s campaign manager during the 2016 presidential race becoming the first woman to successfully steer a White House bid, then became White House senior counsellor, where she served until August 2020.

George Conway, meanwhile, had been considered as a possible solicitor general by Trump, but the powerful lawyer later became one of the most prominent anti-Trump critics in the Republican establishment, founding the Lincoln Project, a conservative political coalition dedicated to defeating the president.

While Kellyanne was steadfastly at Trump’s side during almost his entire administration, George quickly became disenchanted with the chaos and dishonesty of the Trump presidency.

He would slam the president frequently on Twitter, taking angry issue with Trump’s riding roughshod over the rule of law, such as when he fired FBI director James Comey after Comey declined to pledge blanket loyalty to the president.

Both the Conways posted tweets on Saturday evening with a joint statement.

It said, in part: “We are in the final stages of an amicable divorce. We married more than two decades ago, cherish the many happy years (and four corgis) we’ve shared, and above all else, our four incredible children, who remain the heartbeat of our family and our top priority.”

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, congratulating Kellyanne on being “free at last” and calling George her “wacko husband”, saying she had “finally gotten rid of that disgusting albatross around her neck”.