Just 11 days into his new role as White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci has resigned from the position.
BREAKING .@ABC News has learned Anthony Scaramucci has resigned as White House Communications Director….more to come
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders reported that Scaramucci offered his resignation from the position to new White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly on Monday. She said Scaramucci had asked to be moved to the Export-Import Bank and that he no longer holds a position in the administration.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement after Scaramucci’s resignation, saying that he wanted to give Kelly the opportunity to start fresh.
White House statement on #Scaramucci. “To give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate…”
At a press briefing later in the day, Sanders elaborated on Scaramucci’s resignation. She said that while Kelly was ultimately the one to make the decision, President Donald Trump wasn’t happy with controversial comments made by Scaramucci during an interview.
“The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position and he didn’t want to burden General Kelly with that line of succession in the chain of command,” Sanders said.
Scaramucci’s brief tenure ended before he was even officially set to start. He told CNN that his official start date wasn’t until August 15, but he was officially made a White House employee on July 26.
It had been a tumultuous tenure for Scaramucci from the beginning.
On July 21, Trump surprised many by announcing that Scaramucci would fill the vacant White House communications director spot.
According to the New York Times, the selection of Scaramucci didn’t only surprise the public, it also shocked and angered former Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who announced he would resign almost immediately after the meeting.
The Times said that Spicer “vehemently disagreed” with Scaramucci’s appointment, and he wasn’t the only one.
Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Sanders were all “vocally” against Scaramucci’s appointment, a source who spoke to The Daily Beast said.
One of his first days in the role, his now-ex wife Deidre Ball Scaramucci gave birth to the couples’ son named James. However, a report from the New York Daily News said that Scaramucci wasn’t at the hospital with her. Instead, he was with Trump as he gave a speech in West Virginia at the Boy Scouts Jamboree. She gave birth to James just weeks after filing for divorce from Scaramucci.
Leave civilians out of this. I can take the hits, but I would ask that you would put my family in your thoughts and prayers & nothing more.
Then, just a few days later, Scaramucci went on a rant to a reporter from The New Yorker. Scaramucci, who was looking to find out who had “leaked” a financial document of his, didn’t hold much back during the interview, harshly criticizing Preibus and other members of Trump’s administration.
Scaramucci felt betrayed when a financial disclosure form of his was “leaked” to the press. He sent out a now-deleted tweet that seemed to accuse Priebus of playing a role in it getting into the hands of the media.
TwitterAnthony Scaramucci’s now-deleted tweet directed at the FBI and Reince Priebus about the leak of his financial disclosure form.
Minutes before pressing “submit” on the tweet, however, The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza received a phone call from Scaramucci, who lambasted Priebus and harshly accused him of being one of the “leakers.”
Before hanging up the phone, Scaramucci vowed to Lizza that he was going to tweet something about Priebus, and he did so with the above tweet.
“Yeah, let me go, though, because I’ve gotta start tweeting some s**t to make this guy crazy,” Scaramucci said during the interview.
The rest of the interview was vulgar, volatile and extremely critical of Priebus.
“Reince Priebus, if you want to leak something, he’ll be asked to resign very shortly,” Scaramucci said to Lizza. “Reince is a f***ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.”
Scaramucci wasn’t only critical of Priebus, he also called out Bannon, saying that he tries “to s**k (his) own c**k,” adding “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the f***ing strength of the president. I’m here to serve the country.”
I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for @realDonaldTrump‘s agenda. #MAGA
I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won’t happen again.
Just one day later, amidst the reported tensions, Trump announced via Twitter that Priebus had been relieved of his duties and would be replaced by Kelly, who was sworn in July 31.
I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American….
…and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration
I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!
While he hadn’t held communications roles, Scaramucci brought an extensive background in finance and was recently involved in politics.
Scaramucci, whose nickname is “The Mooch,” went to Harvard Law School and started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1989. He held various positions at the company in its investment banking, equities and private wealth management divisions and left in 1996 to form Oscar Capital Management. In 2005, he founded SkyBridge Capital, a global investment firm that he sold just days before Trump’s inauguration.
After Trump was elected, he served as a senior adviser on his transition team, but wasn’t offered a position in the administration prior to him taking office.
During the 2016 presidential election, Scaramucci gave his support to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and was the national finance co-chairman for the campaign. Once Walker dropped out of the race early on, he hopped aboard Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s campaign.
Once Bush got out of the race, he signed on to join the Trump campaign on its national finance committee.
“I am on board and will support and raise money for him,” Scaramucci said to The Washington Post. “I will do whatever I can to support our Republican nominee.”
