New York Post

‘Mooch’ still set on Trump position

- By AMANDA L. GORDON

At the National Italian American Foundation’s New York gala last week, comedian Joe Piscopo did his “Saturday Night Live”-minted impression of Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York.”

Afterward, he introduced Anthony Scaramucci, who was receiving an award for special achievemen­t in business and financial services — though Piscopo, who’s considerin­g a New Jersey gubernator­ial run, focused on Scaramucci’s recent role in politics.

“When I walked into the Hilton, there was one guy going, ‘ We got this, we got this,’ ” Piscopo said, placing himself with Scaramucci at President Trump’s headquarte­rs on election night.

“You know what? They did have it. He knew. Politics aside, raising the funds that he did, and actually helping to put a man in the White House — and the guy was an Italian American.”

Scaramucci received some applause from the guests at Cipriani 42nd Street, but he’s still waiting for a greater reward.

He’d agreed to sell his SkyBridge Capital to HNA Group and another investment firm to prepare for a role as director for the Office of Public Liaison in the White House, but he was taken out of considerat­ion on Feb. 1, the same day the New York Times ran a front-page article about HNA’s opaque ownership structure and ties to the Chinese government.

“I take Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at his word, and Steve Bannon, that once my deal gets closer to closing that there will be a job for me in the administra­tion,” Scaramucci said in an interview. “What that exactly is, I don’t know.”

In the meantime, as he waits for the SkyBridge deal to close, there’s one of the firm’s famous SALT conference­s to plan.

Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at the Las Vegas event in May. “I’m very focused like a laser on getting the investor consensus I need to close the transactio­n,” Scaramucci said. “The FTC has approved it, the HNA board has approved it, the SkyBridge independen­t fund board has approved the management change in control.”

On stage, Scaramucci advised guests not to use Ancestry.com, a service that had researched his DNA and determined he was 15 percent Greek.

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