Trump's media chief sacked 10 days after appointment
White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has been removed from his job within the first 10 days of his appointment. This comes after Scaramucci, a Harvard law graduate and former Wall Street financier, launched a foul-mouthed tirade against two of his senior colleagues at the White House last week. "The president felt his comments were inappropriate," Trump's spokeswoman said.
Donald Trump hailed ?a great day at the White House? following the removal of communications director Anthony Scaramucci after just 10 days in a move that has only increased the sense of chaos at the heart of the Trump administration.His evening tweet came as Scaramucci was forced out following a turbulent series of media appearances over the last week by the combative former Wall Street financier, capped by a foul-mouthed tirade to a New Yorker journalist on Thursday.His shock political demise was precipitated by the appointment of former US marine Gen John Kelly as Donald Trump?s new chief of staff less than six hours earlier.?Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House communications director,? said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement on Monday afternoon. ?Mr Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.?A great day at the White House!The decision to remove Scaramucci, nicknamed ?the Mooch?, came at Kelly?s request, the New York Times reported. His removal may take some pressure off Steve Bannon, the longtime Trump aide whose position has been under threat in recent weeks. Scaramucci made Bannon a target in his rant to the New Yorker and, in response, was the subject of repeatedly negative articles on Breitbart, the publication Bannon once ran.Scaramucci was hired on 21 July, months after the departure of Michael Dubke, who had struggled to craft a coherent communications strategy as the administration spun from one controversy to the next. Sean Spicer reportedly opposed the hiring of Scaramucci and resigned as White House press secretary the same day.Spicer was spotted by reporters in the West Wing apparently helping to shape the statement announcing Scaramucci?s removal from office.Scaramucci?s appointment was also reportedly opposed by chief of staff Reince Priebus, who immediately came under fire from the new communications chief for alleged leaks, and was forced out on Friday and replaced by Kelly. As his first act, Kelly in turn seems to have forced out Scaramucci.Asked if Scaramucci had any role now in the White House, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told a media briefing: ?He does not have a role at this time.?Scaramucci, loyal and telegenic, was named White House communication director, a move that immediately prompted the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer.Scaramucci spent his first Saturday on the job cleaning up his Twitter feed to remove historic tweets critical of the president and his agenda.'The Mooch', as he likes to be known, appeared on the Sunday morning politics TV shows. He promised to root out ?leakers? and said any he found would be fired.Scaramucci?s estranged wife, Deidre Ball, gave birth to their second child in New York. Scaramucci traveled on Air Force One with the president to the Boy Scouts annual jamboree.Thumbs up and smiles aboard Air Force One on the way to Ohio.Scaramucci dined at the White House with the president, the first lady, Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine. After dinner, he placed a fateful call to New Yorker writer, Ryan Lizza...... The New Yorker published that conversation.The New York Post reported that Scaramucci?s infatuation with Trump was a catalyst for his wife?s decision to file for divorce while nine months pregnant. Meanwhile Trump announces on Twitter that Reince Priebus is out as chief of staff.Scaramucci watched as John Kelly was sworn in as the president?s new chief of staff. Hours later, the White House announced that Scaramucci was out as White House communications director, reportedly at the urging of Kelly.Turning to Scaramucci?s New Yorker interview, she said: ?The president felt his comments were inappropriate.?She would not say whether Scaramucci was fired or had resigned, but added that he had felt ?he did not want to burden Gen Kelly with that line of succession?.Kelly had been given full authority by the president over the White House staff and ?all staff will report to him?, she said.A Long Island native with an affinity for the spotlight, Scaramucci had long drawn comparisons to Trump himself. Both men have deep ties to New York, and Trump was said to admire Scaramucci?s unflinching loyalty.A graduate of Harvard law school and a former Goldman Sachs banker, Scaramucci founded the global hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2005, but sold it in 2017 in preparation for a role in the Trump administration. He founded the Salt conference, named after his company, which attracts big name speakers from Washington, Hollywood and Wall Street.Though Scaramucci became a critical fundraiser for the Trump campaign, it was not his first choice. Before the presidential campaign of 2012, Scaramucci expressed early support for Hillary Clinton. ?I hope she runs [in 2016], she is incredibly competent,? he apparently wrote in a deleted tweet from April 2012, according to screenshots published by the Daily Beast. He also called her ?the real deal.?But when the campaign actually arrived, he first donated to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker?s campaign until it collapsed, and then he joined Jeb Bush.Before he joined the Trump campaign, Scaramucci called Trump ?anti-American? and ?another hack politician?.?I?ll tell you who he?s gonna be president of, you can tell Donald I said this: the Queens County Bullies Association,? Scaramucci said during a segment on Fox Business in August 2015. ?You are an inherited-money dude from Queens County. Bring it.?After being hired by Trump, he deleted a number of his old tweets that contradicted the president?s policy positions.His most controversial moment during his short tenure as communications chief was undoubtedly his remarks to a New Yorker interviewer that the then-chief of staff, Reince Priebus, was ?a fucking paranoid schizophrenic? who would be asked to resign (he later was), and that Scaramucci was not like Steve Bannon, the chief strategist, because ?I?m not trying to suck my own cock?.The Washington Post reported that Kelly was ?dismayed? by the interview and found it ?abhorrent and embarrassing for the president?.Named director of communications after having been denied a White House role earlier, the New York financier and Republican fundraiser promptly threatened to fire everyone in his team over leaks. He also staged a combative and contradictory briefing room debut and talkshow tour; sought to bat away questions about suspiciously liberal pronouncements in his past and support for Trump?s Republican enemies; deleted tweets; warred openly with the former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and seemingly forced him out; compared the struggle to take healthcare away from millions of Americans to Lincoln?s battle against slavery; poured obscene invective about leakers, Priebus and Steve Bannon down the phone to a New Yorker reporter; missed the birth of his son; saw his wife file for divorce; and was asked to resign.Trump?s first national security adviser ? one of four generals the president has employed ? resigned after it was revealed he misled Vice-President Mike Pence over his contacts with Russians during the election campaign. It was later reported that Yates had warned the White House Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail.The most shocking firing of them all. Trump sacked his FBI director, by messenger rather than in person, as congressional and justice department investigations into links between Trump aides and Russia gathered pace. Lest anyone retain any doubt about why Trump pressed the big red button, he told NBC in a primetime interview the firing was tied to ?this Russia thing?. The reverberations will be felt for some time yet.The long-suffering but loyal surrogate for the president handed in his resignationin response to Scaramucci?s appointment. A Republican insider and Priebus ally, he never settled into the press secretary role after an infamous debut in which he angrily insisted Trump?s fantastic version of crowd sizes at the inauguration were true. Achieving by way of Melissa McCarthy?s lethal Saturday Night Live impression a somewhat dubious celebrity, his days at the White House were long rumoured to be numbered. His departure on a point of principle having seemingly been justified only 10 days later, he may now claim a sort of hollow vindication.The former Republican National Committee chair stayed loyal ? at least in public ? to Trump through Friday, when he was told his time was up. He stayed loyal after handing in his resignation too, rhapsodising about the president and his mission in interviews with CNN and, of course, Fox News. But it seemed Priebus?s card had alway been marked, less over his initial blocking of Scaramucci, which enraged the Mooch, or by his closeness to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, than by his private advice to Trump to quit the presidential race after 8 October, when the infamous Access Hollywood ?Gropegate? tape was published. The Washington Post reported that Priebus was thus never considered a member of the ?Oct 8th coalition?, a name for the inner cabal of Trumpites who have never wavered, however low their boss?s reputation has sunk.Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is currently in negotiations to buy SkyBridge Capital. Scaramucci announced the sale at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, which was meant to free him of potential conflicts of interest before an official appointment.But that sale ? believed to be worth $250m ? is being held back pending a government review, reportedly by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the agency charged with evaluating the impact on America?s national security of the sales of US businesses.Scaramucci?s wife Deirdre filed for divorce recently while nine months pregnant with their second child. Scaramucci missed the birth last Monday because he was traveling with Trump on Air Force One.The firing met with some swift praise on Capitol Hill. Carlos Curbelo, a moderate Republican from Florida who did not support Trump in 2016, tweeted: ?General Kelly is 1 for 1. Let?s keep it going,? tweeted Curbelo.Trump tweeted this morning: ?Highest Stock Market EVER, best economic numbers in years, unemployment lowest in 17 years, wages raising, border secure, SC: no WH chaos!?Additional reporting by Dominic Rushe in New York