Hours after the White House announced that Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci had resigned after 11 days in the role, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is addressing media members.
Sanders will deliver a press briefing, which was slated to start at 3:45 p.m. EST on Monday, from the White House. Watch the live stream of the briefing in the video at the top of the page.
Shortly after news broke of Scaramucci’s resignation, Sanders issued an official White House statement. It said Scaramucci wanted to give new Chief of Staff General John Kelly the opportunity to start fresh.
White House statement on #Scaramucci. “To give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate…”
Monday was Kelly’s first day in the position after Reince Preibus was forced out two days beforehand.
Scaramucci’s exit from the Trump administration is the sixth notable exit since the president took over January 20.
Others include: Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser, who withdrew amidst controversy about his past foreign meetings; James Comey, who was fired by Trump as FBI director and Mike Dubke, who resigned from the communications director role.
It was quite a tumultuous 11 days in the position for Scaramucci, starting the day that he was hired.
On July 21, President Donald 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, Priebus and Sanders were all “vocally” against Scaramucci’s appointment, a source who spoke to The Daily Beast said.
Perhaps the biggest headline-worthy move by Scaramucci was when he went on a vulgar 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!