Anthony Scaramucci’s spell as White House commun-ications director was the shortest and perhaps the most tumultuous in history.
Anthony Scaramucci’s spell as White House commun-ications director was the shortest and perhaps the most tumultuous in history.
In an ultimate example of living by the sword and dying by it, Mr Scaramucci rose to stratospheric prominence before being summarily dispatched by his boss, President Donald Trump, with utter ruthlessness after just 11 days.
White House insiders said Mr Trump had lost confidence and been „concerned“ after Mr Scaramucci launched a foul-mouthed tirade to a journalist in which he lambasted other senior administration figures.
Mr Trump was also said to have been annoyed by Mr Scaramucci’s seemingly unstoppable rise to celebrity, achieving an international media profile that in recent days had rivalled the president’s own.
One person close to the administration said: „There is only one star in the White House.“
Nicknamed „The Mooch“ by friends and „Gucci Scaramucci“ by former President George W Bush, the multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss was plastered across US tabloids in recent days. Revelations included that he was in the midst of a divorce from his second wife who was said to be no fan of Mr Trump, and to have decried Mr Scaramucci’s „naked political ambition“.
She was reported to have filed divorce papers while pregnant with their child, who was born last week.
When the child was born Mr Scaramucci reportedly sent a text saying: „Congratulations, I’ll pray for our child.“
Mr Scaramucci’s road to the White House had been a long one after he was initially slated for a role following the inauguration in January.
He was blackballed then by Reince Priebus, Mr Trump’s first chief of staff.
But this month Mr Priebus’s star waned. His friend Sean Spicer was pushed out of being press secretary, and Mr Scaramucci was brought in as communications director.
But days into the job Mr Scaramucci conducted an on-the-record interview with a journalist from the ‚New Yorker‘ magazine which was variously described by senior Republicans in Washington as „insane“ and „nuts“.
In it, he called Mr Priebus a „paranoid schizophrenic“ and also launched a vulgar verbal assault against Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist, and a hugely powerful enemy to make.
While he quickly secured Mr Priebus’s resignation it was a pyrrhic victory for Mr Scaramucci.
Mr Trump subsequently appointed John Kelly, a former general, as chief of staff to bring military-style discipline to an unruly and dysfunctional White House beset by vicious internal rivalries.
According to insiders, Mr Kelly regarded Mr Scaramucci as „undisciplined“.
For someone to be successful as chief of staff, they have to be the main point of contact between White House advisers and the president.
But Mr Scaramucci was determined to maintain his own direct access. As a result, Mr Kelly, on his first day in the job, asked the president to remove Mr Scaramucci from his role, and he did so.
Recent revelations about Mr Scaramucci’s self-promotion included that he paid a reported $100,000 for a small part in ‚Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps‘, the sequel to the film ‚Wall Street‘. He was in two scenes totalling 15 seconds.
Hours before his removal, bookmakers offered attractive odds that he would fail to make it to Christmas.
