Anthony Scaramucci called Donald Trump a hack politician in 2015, two years before becoming his communications director, and he now says that he regrets these comments.
During an interview on Fox Business in August 2015, Scaramucci was asked about a statement candidate Donald Trump had recently made about how hedge fund managers are “paying nothing.” Scaramucci made clear that he was no fan of Trump.
“Another hack politician,” Scaramucci said on Fox News. “…He’s probably going to make Elizabeth Warren his vice presidential nominee with comments like that. It’s anti-American, it’s very very divisive.”
Scaramucci went on to say that the only thing Donald Trump would ever be president of is the “Queens County Bullies Association,” adding that Trump needs to “stop all this crazy rhetoric…”
When another Fox commentator chimed in to say that she didn’t like the comments Trump has made about women, Scaramucci said he agreed with this sentiment.
“I don’t like the way he talks about women,”Scaramucci said. “I don’t like the way he talks about our friend Megyn Kelly.”
Scaramucci subsequently looked at the camera and spoke directly to Donald Trump, saying, “You’re an inherited-money dude from Queens County. Bring it, Donald. Bring it.”
Later in the Fox segment, Scaramucci expressed skepticism that Donald Trump would continue beating Jeb Bush and Scott Walker in the polls, also predicting that Trump’s campaign would be over by November 2015.
Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Scaramucci endorsed Scott Walker and later Jeb Bush. However, by March 2016, it became clear to him that he was wrong and that Trump was going to become president.
“Listen, I ran out of holidays. I said on TV he was going to be out on Labor Day,” Scaramucci said in March 2016, according to Vanity Fair. “I said he was going to be out on Thanksgiving. I said he was going to be out on Christmas. I ran out of goddamned holidays!
At the same time, Scaramucci said as recently as March 2016 that he didn’t want Trump to be elected.
“I’m going to say one last thing to the Democrats here, because I really don’t want Trump to be president, so I want you to listen very carefully, O.K.?” Scaramucci said, according to Vanity Fair. “He was underestimated by Walker and his team…And when [Hillary Clinton] talks about him, she sounds and smells like she’s already underestimating him. So I’m just giving you guys a heads up. Do not underestimate the guy.”
Scaramucci joined candidate Donald Trump’s finance committee two months later, in May 2016.
During the White House press briefing today, Anthony Scaramucci was asked about the comments he made on Fox Business in 2015, and he said that he made a mistake by underestimating Donald Trump. He also said that President Trump brings up these comments of Scaramucci’s all the time and that he has apologized for them.
“He brings it up every 15 seconds,” Scaramucci said. “One of the biggest mistakes that I made because I was an unexperienced person in the world of politics, I was supporting another candidate, I should have never said that about him. So Mr. President, if you’re listening, I personally apologize for the 50th time for saying that.”
Scaramucci added that this Fox Business segment was three minutes of his life, yet Trump has “never forgotten it” and that “I hope that some day, Mr. President, you will forget it.”
White House Communications Dir. Scaramucci: “I personally apologize for the 50th time” for previously calling Trump a “hack politician.”