Just one week after taking over as White House Communications Director, tech investor Anthony Scaramucci has been removed from his position on what also happens to be the first day on the job for new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly:
WASHINGTON — President Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from his position as communications director, three people close to the decision said Monday, relieving him just days after Mr. Scaramucci unloaded a crude verbal tirade against other senior members of the president’s senior staff.
Mr. Scaramucci’s abrupt removal came just 10 days after the wealthy New York financier was brought on to the West Wing staff, a move that convulsed an already chaotic White House and led to the departures of Sean Spicer, the former press secretary, and Reince Priebus, the president’s first chief of staff.
The decision to remove Mr. Scaramucci, who had boasted about reporting directly to the president not the chief of staff, John F. Kelly, came at Mr. Kelly’s request, the people said. Mr. Kelly made clear to members of the White House staff at a meeting Monday morning that he is in charge.
Scaramucci’s dismissal comes just ten days after he began in the position, a move that prompted the resignation of Sean Spicer, who had been serving in the dual roles of Press Secretary and Communications Director and after a week of public head-butting with former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that included a profanity-laced interview with The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza in which he attacked Priebus and senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Priebus, of course, was dismissed late last week and replaced with former Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who took over as Chief of Staff today. Kelly’s appointment prompted much speculation over the weekend regarding what changes he might make to the White House, including whether he would be able to work with Scaramucci, who reportedly had been among the people authorized to report directly to Trump rather than through the Chief of Staff as is ordinarily the case. The fact that Scaramucci was let go on Kelly’s first day is clearly not coincidentally, and it’s being reported that getting rid of him was among Kelly’s first demands upon taking the job of Chief of Staff. In addition, Scaramucci quickly became a source of controversy and ended up having several details about his life revealed publicly, including the issues surrounding the sale of his company to a company with ties to the Chinese military and revelations regarding the fact that his wife had recently filed for divorce even while being pregnant with the couple’s child.
In any case, Scaramucci’s dismissal after only ten days appears to make him the person to hold that position on anything but an interim basis in American history. Unfortunately, it also means that we’ll never see that Saturday Night Live impersonation that would obviously be coming but for the fact that the show is currently on summer break. More seriously, it could be a sign that, at least initially, General Kelly is at least trying to impose some discipline on the White House. The utlimite question, though, will be whether he can impose discipline on the President. That will be his hardest task.
Update: The White House has issued this statement:
White House statement on @Scaramucci's departure. pic.twitter.com/R5kicfSYNm
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 31, 2017
