Why Did Anthony Scaramucci Resign as White House Communications Director?

Anthony Scaramucci has resigned as White House Communications Director just 10 days after being hired. So what exactly happened? What led to Scaramucci’s downfall?

The news of Scaramucci’s resignation just now broke, and so there are still a lot of questions. But the early word is that Donald Trump’s new chief of staff, John Kelly, wanted Scaramucci out.

“The change came at the request of new chief of staff John Kelly, who started Monday,” Politico reports.

CNN reports the same thing, with Kaitlan Collins quoting sources as saying that Kelly felt that Scaramucci was not disciplined and that he had burned his credibility. This was reportedly due in part to Scaramucci’s recent profanity-laced interview with The New Yorker, during which he called Reince Priebus a “f—— paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.” He also said, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c—.”

In addition, The Washington Post’s Robert Costa reports that President Trump and his family did not appreciate Scaramucci’s comments to The New Yorker, feeling that they were an embarrassment and that they linked the administration to vulgarity.

April Ryan reports that Anthony Scaramucci told John Kelly that he doesn’t report to him; Kelly disagreed and fired Scaramucci.

In a statement this afternoon, incoming White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team.” This statement is very similar to the one the White House gave after Sean Spicer announced his resignation; they said that Spicer was resigning in order to give Anthony Scaramucci a clean slate.

The White House’s statement today leaves open the possibility that Scaramucci could move to another government job.

Anthony Scaramucci was hired as White House communications director on July 21st. He wasn’t originally supposed to take office until August 15th, although his start date was later moved up to July 26th, according to CNN. Either way, he served as White House communications director for less time than anyone in history.

In the past 10 days, Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, and now Anthony Scaramucci have all announced that they are leaving their positions. There is now, however, some question as to whether Spicer will still resign. He technically isn’t scheduled to leave his office until next month, and he was only leaving to give Anthony Scaramucci a “clean slate.” When asked this afternoon whether he’ll still be resigning, Sean Spicer would not comment.