Tag: Anthony Scaramucci

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Mario Cantone Channels New WH Comm Director Anthony Scaramucci

While SNL may have lost Melissa McCarthy’s “Sean Spicer” character, Comedy Central’s The President Show has introduced its version of rambunctious White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci in the form of actor, Mario Cantone.

TV viewers will remember Cantone from his role of “Anthony Marentino” on the HBO hit, Sex and the City.

Introduced by Anthony Atamanuik’s “President Trump” last night, Cantone got straight to work calling out beleaguered White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus.

“I’m going to fire so many people,” said Cantone’s Scaramucci. “I don’t know who it’s going to be, Reince, but I’m going to get to the bottom of the leaks in the White House. Do you hear me, Reince?”

Cantone showed up on CNN’s “New Day” to chat on the new gig, although morning TV doesn’t seem to be Mario’s thing.

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WH Comm Director Covers New York Daily News: “Mooch Madness”

Unsurprisingly, new White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, lands on the cover of the New York Daily News this morning as folks are still talking about his expletive-laden rant to a reporter about White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus.

The Mooch is on the loose — and President Trump’s new attack dog is one angry, angry pooch.

“Reince is a f—ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said in a Wednesday night phone call to Ryan Lizza, a writer for The New Yorker.

Anthony Scaramucci takes shot at financial disclosure leakers
Scaramucci accused Priebus of, among other things, leaking to the press a dinner President Trump held earlier that night with the First Lady, Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine.

Scaramucci channeled Priebus as he railed on the phone: “‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the f—ing thing and see if I can c–k-block these people the way I c–k-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’”

Later in the call, after he promised to fire three to four people “by tomorrow,” the former Wall Street hedge fund titan unleashed his below-the-belt venom on White House strategist Stephen Bannon.

“I’m not Steve Bannon,” Scaramucci said after insisting he had no interest in media attention.

“I’m not trying to suck my own c–k. I’m not trying to build my own brand off the f—ing strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.”

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WH Comm Director Goes On Unhinged Rant: “Reince Priebus Is A F*cking Paranoid Schizophrenic”

Wow.

Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker got a phone call last night from newly-installed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci who was all worked up that Lizza had tweeted about a dinner between Scaramucci, Donald Trump, and Fox News personality Sean Hannity.

Scaramucci demanded Lizza tell him who leaked the info.

Lizza reported the conversation today, and whoo-boy…

Here’s an excerpt. Clearly, Scaramucci doesn’t know the phrase “off the record.”

I asked him why it was so important for the dinner to be kept a secret. Surely, I said, it would become public at some point. “I’ve asked people not to leak things for a period of time and give me a honeymoon period,” he said. “They won’t do it.” He was getting more and more worked up, and he eventually convinced himself that Priebus was my source.

“They’ll all be fired by me,” he said. “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.” The issue, he said, was that he believed Priebus had been worried about the dinner because he hadn’t been invited.

“Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said. He channeled Priebus as he spoke: “ ‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the fucking thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’ ” (Priebus did not respond to a request for comment.)

Scaramucci also told me that, unlike other senior officials, he had no interest in media attention. “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said, speaking of Trump’s chief strategist. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.” (Bannon declined to comment.)

First of all, a “communications director” talks like that to the press?

Second, I’m guessing Lizza won’t be getting many more phone calls from the “Mooch.”

And finally, this is all kinda funny when you know how mild-mannered Ryan Lizza is. Picturing him on the end of this phone call makes me laugh.

And, one last tweet from the “Mooch” himself:

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WH Comm Director Scaramucci Threatens To “Fire Everybody” To Stop Leaks

Anthony Scaramucci

The first head has rolled in the White House press office as assistant press secretary Michael Short has resigned in advance of being fired by White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

From Politico:

Short’s ouster is Scaramucci’s first warning shot to White House aides who have been perceived as disloyal to the president. In an echo of Trump’s not-so-subtle warning to Jeff Sessions about his status as attorney general, Scaramucci’s vow to “fire everybody” is a warning to staffers perceived as leakers.

“I’m going to fire everybody, that’s how I’m going to do it,” Scaramucci said to reporters outside of the White House on Tuesday. “You’re either going to stop leaking or you’re going to be fired.”

He claimed to have the full authority of the president to clean out the communications shop and put his own stamp on the team. A source close to Scaramucci said that he’s planning to bring in people from the corporate communications world in addition to conservative broadcast stars.

Short was apparently not well-liked by his colleagues in the White House having quit Team Trump during the campaign but was hired for White House duty by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Scaramucci told reporters it “really upsets me as a human being and as a Roman Catholic” that Short found out about his departure through the media.

He added he’s prepared to reduce the communications office to just himself and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders if necessary.

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New White House Comm Director Denies Russian Interference In 2016 Election

The new White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, sat down for a lengthy chat on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper this morning.

Started out very polite, but Scaramucci quickly became combative, which is certainly going to please his boss.

At one point, Scaramucci offered the opinion of an anonymous person on Russia. When pushed by Tapper, the new comm director admitted that it was President Trump.

Via Raw Story:

CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday called out newly-appointed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci for continuing to deny Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. On Sunday’s State of the Union program, Tapper asked Scaramucci if President Donald Trump was prepared to sign a sanctions bill against Russia.

“There’s a lot of misinformation,” Scaramucci said, dismissing the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies. “Somebody said to me the other day — I don’t want to say who — if the Russian actually hacked the this situation and spilled out those emails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them. Meaning that they’re super confident in their deception skills and hacking.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tapper interrupted. “I don’t know who this anonymous person is.” “How about it’s the president, Jake,” Scaramucci revealed. “He called me from Air Force One and basically said to me, ‘This is — maybe they did it, maybe they didn’t do it.’”

Props to Jake Tapper for trying to keep Scaramucci on topic.

A few other points gleaned from Mr. Scaramucci’s appearance:

• We now know he likes to remind folks he went to Harvard Law School.

• He hasn’t met a superlative, in regard to Trump, he doesn’t like.

• He really loves to say he “loves” the president. He loves to say it a lot.

• He enjoys dropping lines like, “The president called me from Air Force One.”

• Scaramucci says once he has his security clearance, he’ll “take a look” at the intelligence and decide for himself if he believes Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

It’s clear to see why Trump would like a guy like Scaramucci. He constantly praises his boss; he’s much more smooth than Sean Spicer; he’s a middle-class guy who created his own success – a narrative Trump would love to believe about himself; and he looks like what Trump probably thinks he sees when he looks in the mirror.

Here’s the full segment. I encourage you to watch.

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New White House Comm Director Has A Liberal Past

Anthony Scaramucci

Newly installed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci has a liberal background, and he’s quickly deleting as much of his progressive side as he can on Twitter.

Scaramucci says he’s deleting the tweets because they represent old views that he has now “evolved” from, and the tweets shouldn’t be a “distraction.”

It turns out the new comm director is pro-marriage equality, pro-gun control, pro-choice and believes in climate change. Oh, during the 2016 presidential campaign, he tweeted that “walls don’t work. Never have never will.”

Scaramucci is around 52 years old. I find it hard to believe views he held at 47 would have changed that much.

Of course, this is the internet where everything is forever.

Here’s a small selection of what folks have found.

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White House Comm Director Anthony Scaramucci In 2015: Trump Is “A Hack” & “Anti-American”

Newly installed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci has nothing but love for Donald Trump today. Witness the many times he said so at the press podium this afternoon.

But back in 2015, Scaramucci supported Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for president and called Trump “a hack” and “anti-American” on Fox Business News.

Take a trip on the way-back machine below:

But, here’s Scaramucci today. As Judd Legum points out, this is why Trump picked this guy. #PraisePraiseNothingButPraise