The entertaining press briefings are coming to an end, as Sean Spicer is leaving the White House.
Six months and one day after Donald Trump took office as the 45th president of the United States, The New York Times reported July 21 that Spicer has decided to resign as the White House Press Secretary.
Spicer tweeted that he will stay on as press secretary through the end of August.
It’s been an honor & a privilege to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August
Spicer’s decision came after a July 21 meeting at the White House. During the meeting, Trump offered Anthony Scaramucci a role in his administration as its communications director. The meeting happened around 10 a.m., and The Times reported that Trump asked Spicer to stay on.
However, a source told the newspaper that Spicer — and others in the administration — thought hiring Scaramucci, a New York financer, was a “major mistake.” Therefore, Spicer decided to leave the administration for good and announced he would do so shortly after the meeting.
The reason Spicer thought the hiring was such a mistake is because he didn’t believe Scaramucci, who doesn’t have a background in communications, could do the job, NBC’s Katy Tur reported. She added that ahead of the meeting, Spicer was telling people he would resign if Scaramucci was hired.
Spicer was telling folks last night he would resign if Scaramucci was hired. Said he didn’t think Scaramucci could do the job. -source close
Spicer wasn’t the only one who had a problem with Scaramucci getting the job. During the meeting, White House Senior Adviser Steve Bannon directly told Scaramucci that he would get the job “over (his) dead body,” Tur reported.
Bannon told Scaramucci “over my dead body” will he get the job – two sources 1 in WH and 1 out tell @Sruhle and me.
According to The Daily Beast, the hiring of Scaramucci also upset Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
Officials told the news outlet that they were worried the hiring of Scaramucci would “perpetuate the notion of ‘amateur hour’ in the West Wing,” The Daily Beast reported. That’s because many feel he’s extremely unqualified for the position.
Scaramucci was a senior adviser on Trump’s transition team and started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1989. In his time there, he held multiple positions in its investment banking, equities and private wealth management divisions.
In 1996, he left Goldman Sachs and started Oscar Capital Management. Then, in 2005, he founded SkyBridge Capital, a global investment firm that he sold just days before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
It had widely been reported for months that Spicer was on the hot seat and his job was in jeopardy because of the way he handled certain situations in front of the press.
