WASHINGTON, DC — Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House communications director.
It’s the latest high-profile departure from the Trump White House. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus resigned at the end of last week, replaced by John Kelly, whose first day is Monday.
“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”
A White House official said Kelly wanted Scaramucci removed from his new role as the communications director because he did not think he was disciplined and had burned his credibility.
Scaramucci, a colorful and controversial figure, was brought on during the latest in a long list of White House shake ups that have imbued the Trump presidency with a sense of chaos.
Scaramucci is the third White House communications director to leave the post that had been vacant since late May, when Mike Dubke left after about three months on the job. Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, also assumed some of the communications director role before he resigned when Scaramucci was hired July 21.
Scaramucci’s departure comes days after he unleashed a vulgar tirade against two top White House officials in a conversation with a reporter.
After Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Yorker and a CNN contributor, broke the news that Scaramucci was having dinner with Fox News host Sean Hannity and former top Fox News executive Bill Shine, Scaramucci called to try to force Lizza to give up his source.
Scaramucci suspected that Priebus was the leaker and slammed the former chief of staff.
“Reince is a f—ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” he said, mimicking Priebus when he added, ”’Let me leak the f—ing thing and see if I can c–k block these people the way I c–k blocked Scaramucci for six months.'”
And in a comment that drew consternation from even some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Scaramucci slammed White House strategist Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump adviser, for what Scaramucci considered was trying to build his own brand from the White House.
“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c–k,” he said.
Before the New Yorker interview published, Scaramucci called into CNN’s “New Day” and all but blamed Priebus for leaking information. The remarkable interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo — which came after Scaramucci included Priebus’ name in a tweet about leaking — put the developing power struggle inside the West Wing on full display, with Scaramucci at one point warning that “the fish stinks from the head down.”
“When I put out a tweet and I put Reince’s name in a tweet, they’re all making the assumption that it’s him because journalists know who the leakers are,” Scaramucci said on “New Day.” “So if Reince wants to explain he’s not a leaker, let him do that. But let me tell you about myself. I’m a straight shooter and I’ll go right to the heart of the matter.”
Despite not always being a Trump supporter, Scaramucci entered the White House as someone with a long relationship with Trump, something others in the communications shop did not enjoy. In interviews during his brief tenure as a White House staffer, Scaramucci talked up his knowledge of Trump’s needs and his connection to the President.
Scaramucci, who advised Trump during the 2016 campaign, had hoped for an earlier post in the administration and began selling his hedge fund — SkyBridge Capital — in order to win a role. But that role was delayed for Scaramucci, who blamed Priebus and other establishment Republicans in the administration for blocking his entry.
Before becoming communications director, Scaramucci was named as vice president and chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank.
When asked if Scaramucci is returning to the Ex-Im bank, a spokesperson for the bank said: “We are checking into this matter.”
But what really warmed Trump to Scaramucci was his months of being a prominent TV surrogate for the President, regularly clashing with television hosts and casting the Trump administration as a well-oiled machine.
Scaramucci, despite casting himself as a political outsider in the vein of Trump, was national finance co-chair of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and later fundraiser for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP primaries before jumping to Trump’s campaign.
Stay with FOX61 NEWS as we get more details.
