Scaramucci launches furious, profane attack on his White House rivals
Extraordinary tirade raises prospect of all-out civil war at the White House
Donald Trump’s new communications director has launched an extraordinary, foul-mouthed tirade against two senior colleagues, raising the prospect of all-out civil war at the White House.
Anthony Scaramucci told an interviewer that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is “a [expletive] paranoid schizophrenic” who will be asked to resign, and that Scaramucci is not like Steve Bannon, the chief strategist, because “I’m not trying to suck my own [expletive]”.
The profane language was shocking even by the standards of the Trump era and suggested that a major staff shake-up is imminent.
New Yorker correspondent Ryan Lizza wrote that Scaramucci called him on Wednesday night, angry that Lizza had tweeted that the communications director was having dinner at the White House with Trump; his wife, Melania; Fox News host Sean Hannity; and former Fox News executive Bill Shine.
“Who leaked that to you?” Scaramucci demanded, according to Lizza’s account.
When the journalist refused to disclose his source, Scaramucci allegedly threatened: “What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over.”
He is quoted as saying: “I ask these guys not to leak anything, and they can’t help themselves. You’re an American citizen, this is a major catastrophe for the American country. So I’m asking you as an American patriot to give me a sense of who leaked it.”
Conspiracy theories
According to Lizza, Scaramucci believed the fact that the dinner had been exposed was evidence that his rivals, and Priebus in particular, were conspiring against him.
As they discussed the matter further, Lizza writes, Scaramucci “was getting more and more worked up, and he eventually convinced himself that Priebus was my source”.
‘The Mooch’, as he is known, said: “They’ll all be fired by me. I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I’ll fire tomorrow. I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus — if you want to leak something — he’ll be asked to resign very shortly.”
Scaramucci said he told Trump that he expected Priebus to launch a campaign against him, Lizza writes.
Scaramucci believed Priebus had been disturbed by the dinner because he was not invited.
“Reince is a [expletive] paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” he is quoted as saying.
Scaramucci has reportedly long blamed Priebus for keeping him out of the White House when Trump took office in January, despite his loyalty to the Trump campaign.
On Thursday night Scaramucci did not apologise, but promised not to use swear words again in the course of his new job.
In a Twitter message after the article appeared online, Scaramucci said: “I sometimes use colourful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for @realDonaldTrump’s agenda.”
‘No comments’
Asked about the article, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration was focused on health care and other items.
“I don’t have anything else to add,” she said.
Priebus and Bannon had no comment.