Anthony Scaramucci in eye-watering, foul-mouthed rant at Steve Bannon as he says he wants to 'kill leakers'

Barney Henderson
Updated
Anthony Scaramucci is a fast-talking New Yorker in the mould of his boss - Getty Images North America
Anthony Scaramucci is a fast-talking New Yorker in the mould of his boss - Getty Images North America

Anthony Scaramucci has launched a foul-mouthed attack on Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's chief strategist, as his feud with senior White House figures escalated on Thursday evening.

The president's newly-appointed communications director also accused Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff of damaging information leaks.

In a phone conversation with a reporter for New Yorker magazine, Mr Scaramucci accused Mr Bannon, the controversial alt-right former media executive, of serving his own interests.

Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus - Credit: AFP
Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus Credit: AFP

"I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to suck my own ----," he said.

"I'm not trying to build my own brand off the ------- strength of the president. I'm here to serve the country."

Mr Bannon "declined to comment".

Mr Scaramucci, a New York financier, later tweeted: "I sometimes use colorful language. I will  refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for @realDonaldTrump's agenda. #MAGA"

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the new White House press secretary, said she had nothing to add to Mr Scaramucci's statement.

During the interview with Ryan Lizza, Mr Scaramucci threatened to fire the entire White House communications team over the alleged leak of a dinner he attended last week at the White House with the president, first lady, Sean Hannity, the Fox News journalist, and Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive.

Reince Priebus (centre) in the Oval Office, with the president and other key officials - Credit: Reuters
Reince Priebus (centre) in the Oval Office, with the president and other key officials Credit: Reuters

Lizza wrote: “'What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,' [Scaramucci] said. I laughed, not sure if he really believed that such a threat would convince a journalist to reveal a source."

Mr Scaramucci goes on to state: “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.”

He described Mr Priebus as a "paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac". And added that he wanted to "------- kill all the leakers".

"What I want to do is I want to ------- kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people,” he said.

There was no comment from Mr Priebus.

The comments about Mr Bannon led to some amusing responses on social media: