White House press chief quits after Trump row
DONALD Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer resigned last night after six months as the public face of the president’s administration.
he stepped down after a row with Mr Trump over his appointment of Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as his new communications director.
The new York Times claimed Mr Spicer ‘vehemently’ disagreed with the appointment. his resignation caps a tumultuous tenure in which he was repeatedly undermined by the president’s own tweets.
Mr Spicer took on some of the communications director responsibilities after Mike Dubke quit that job in May and has been responding to a deluge of controversy, particularly concerning the probe into Mr Trump’s campaign team’s ties to Russia. In his early days as press secretary he was known for holding rambunctious on-camera press conferences where he would try to defend the president.
But he had withdrawn from the cameras in recent weeks with Washington analysts claiming he was seen as a liability by the president.
Mr Spicer had faced ridicule from his first appearance at a press conference when he criticised the media over reports concerning the size of the crowd at Mr Trump’s inauguration.
Although photographs appeared to contradict him, Mr Spicer insisted: ‘This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.’ his resignation comes a day after Mark Corallo, the spokesman for Mr Trump’s legal team, also quit.
The latest upheaval in the White house came after claims that Mr Trump has asked advisers how he could pardon himself, his family and his inner circle amid the investigation into his campaign’s ties with Russia.
According to the Washington Post, Mr Trump asked his lawyers about the pardon option as his legal team look into limiting or undercutting inquiries by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the FBI investigation into possible links between the Kremlin and the president’s election team.
The legal team is also said to be trying to prove conflicts of interest involving Mr Mueller’s staff, which could give grounds to remove him from office.