Donald Trump removed his communications director on Monday at the request of his new chief of staff, John Kelly. Scaramucci unleashed a crude verbal tirade against other senior Trump advisers just days into his appointment.
WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump went on Twitter on Monday morning and asked the world to believe him instead of their lying eyes. There was, he insisted, no “chaos” in his White House.
Anthony Scaramucci was widely praised for his “smooth” debut as Donald Trump’s communications director at a White House press briefing just 10 days ago. (THE WASHINGTON POST / JABIN BOTSFORD)
Six hours later, he fired a guy he hired 10 days ago.
Anthony Scaramucci, the president’s new communications director, was unceremoniously dumped Monday afternoon in the wake of the New Yorker interview in which he ranted profanely about other senior members of Trump’s staff.
Scaramucci is the second senior Trump official to be ousted in the last four days. The first was Reince Priebus, against whom Scaramucci had waged a power struggle that had temporarily appeared successful.
Former press secretary Sean Spicer resigned the week prior upon learning that Scaramucci would be made his boss. Spicer was seen smiling in the West Wing on Monday afternoon.
Scaramucci’s termination can be seen as a first step in an effort by Trump’s new chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, to impose order on a dysfunctional administration. But it is another black eye on a president who had pledged to bring “the best people” to government.Scaramucci is a well-dressed, fast-talking Wall Street financier who had no experience in government. Trump liked him, though, for his appearances on Fox News shows. Key Trump advisers including son-in-law Jared Kushner thought he would help them do better delivering their message amid an endless stream of controversy.
His hyperbolic but cheerful debut in the White House briefing room on July 21 was widely praised as smooth. But he quickly began railing angrily against “leakers”— at one point blaming these mystery wrongdoers for a story about a planned firing he had himself disclosed to the website Politico.
On Wednesday evening, he offered up a variety of profanities about Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon in an unsolicited phone call to the New Yorker magazine.
Trump, himself frequently criticized for comments seen as inappropriate, was said to be unfazed by the remarks to the New Yorker — and even angry at Priebus for declining to fight back. But coverage of Scaramucci was sharply negative in even Trump-friendly outlets like the website Breitbart, and Trump, according to an administration official quoted by Politico, went from “amused to annoyed.”
