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Trump’s new communication director says he wants a ‘reset’ on relations with the media.
President Donald Trump’s new communications adviser says it’s time to hit the “reset button.”
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci pledged to begin “an era of a new good feeling” and said he hopes to “create a more positive mojo.” He also promised to crack down on information leaks and pledged to better focus the message coming from the White House.
To that end, Scaramucci suggested changes to come, noting: “I have in my pocket a radio studio, a television studio, and a movie studio. The entire world has changed; we need to rethink the way we’re delivering our information.”
Trump announced Friday that Scaramucci — a polished television commentator and Harvard Law graduate — would take over the administration’s top messaging job.
The challenges for Scaramucci’s new role were evident in a series of interviews, where he discussed his plans for press strategy, but was beset by questions about the Russia investigation and the president’s Twitter feed.
The president frequently opts to directly speak to the public via Twitter. Scaramucci stressed on Fox that he would “let the president be the president,” adding that he wants to “help aid and abet his agenda.”
On the Russia stories, Scaramucci said on Fox that a “two-pronged approach” was needed, saying that “in some ways we want to de-escalate things and have there be a level of diplomacy. In other ways, we want it to be very hardhitting and war-like.”
Asked about the president’s tweets about the investigation on CBS’ “Face the Nation”, Scaramucci said “if he thinks it’s helpful to him, let him do it.”
He also said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “we’re going to defend him very, very aggressively when there’s nonsensical stuff being said about him. And he will probably dial back some of those tweets.”
On Saturday, Scaramucci said he was deleting old tweets. Some of the tweets were at odds with Trump’s views, including one that praised Hillary Clinton’s competence.