Gone in the blink of an eye: Scaramucci's glittering 10-day White House stint in full

Trump’s communications director began his tenure with an air-kiss to the White House press corps. Less than two weeks later, he was dumped

Anthony Scaramucci’s tenure as White House communications director was as short as a four-letter word and just as shocking.

His stint began with such promise: an appearance in the briefing room where he repeatedly declared his love for the president and parted with an air-kiss to the White House press corps. A summer’s fling, it was over almost before it had begun.

Anthony Scaramucci (10 days)

Named director of communications after having been denied a White House role earlier, the New York financier and Republican fundraiser promptly threatened to fire everyone in his team over leaks. He also staged a combative and contradictory briefing room debut and talkshow tour; sought to bat away questions about suspiciously liberal pronouncements in his past and support for Trump’s Republican enemies; deleted tweets; warred openly with the former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and seemingly forced him out; compared the struggle to take healthcare away from millions of Americans to Lincoln’s battle against slavery; poured obscene invective about leakers, Priebus and Steve Bannon down the phone to a New Yorker reporter; missed the birth of his son; saw his wife file for divorce; and was asked to resign.

Michael Flynn (23 days)

Trump’s first national security adviser – one of four generals the president has employed – resigned after it was revealed he misled Vice-President Mike Pence over his contacts with Russians during the election campaign. It was later reported that Yates had warned the White House Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

James Comey (110 days)

The most shocking firing of them all. Trump sacked his FBI director, by messenger rather than in person, as congressional and justice department investigations into links between Trump aides and Russia gathered pace. Lest anyone retain any doubt about why Trump pressed the big red button, he told NBC in a primetime interview the firing was tied to “this Russia thing”. The reverberations will be felt for some time yet.

Sean Spicer (183 days)

The long-suffering but loyal surrogate for the president handed in his resignationin response to Scaramucci’s appointment. A Republican insider and Priebus ally, he never settled into the press secretary role after an infamous debut in which he angrily insisted Trump’s fantastic version of crowd sizes at the inauguration were true. Achieving by way of Melissa McCarthy’s lethal Saturday Night Live impression a somewhat dubious celebrity, his days at the White House were long rumoured to be numbered. His departure on a point of principle having seemingly been justified only 10 days later, he may now claim a sort of hollow vindication.

Reince Priebus (189 days)

The former Republican National Committee chair stayed loyal – at least in public – to Trump through Friday, when he was told his time was up. He stayed loyal after handing in his resignation too, rhapsodising about the president and his mission in interviews with CNN and, of course, Fox News. But it seemed Priebus’s card had alway been marked, less over his initial blocking of Scaramucci, which enraged the Mooch, or by his closeness to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, than by his private advice to Trump to quit the presidential race after 8 October, when the infamous Access Hollywood “Gropegate” tape was published. The Washington Post reported that Priebus was thus never considered a member of the “Oct 8th coalition”, a name for the inner cabal of Trumpites who have never wavered, however low their boss’s reputation has sunk.

21 July

Scaramucci, loyal and telegenic but lacking a traditional communications background, was named White House communication director, a move that immediately prompted the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer.

Ever the showman, Scaramucci smiled and charmed from behind the lectern as reporters peppered him with questions. But he was only ever performing for an audience of one, a president with a predilection for plot twists.

At the press briefing, his first appearance before reporters outlined a familiar strategy: let Trump be Trump.

“I think it’s super important for us to let him express his personality,” Scaramucci explained.

In a statement, Trump praised Scaramucci: “Anthony is a person I have great respect for, and he will be an important addition to this administration. He has been a great supporter and will now help implement key aspects of our agenda while leading the communications team.”

22 July

Before pledging to Make America Great Again, Scaramucci had a different view of Trump. The Mooch spent his first Saturday on the job cleaning up his Twitter feed to remove historic tweets critical of the president and his agenda.

“He’s gonna be president of, you can tell Donald I said this: the Queens County Bullies Association,” Scaramucci once said during a segment on Fox Business in August 2015. “You are an inherited-money dude from Queens County. Bring it.”

23 July

The Mooch showed off his charm on the Sunday morning shows. He promised a witch-hunt to root out “leakers” and said anyone found to be sharing unauthorized information with the press would be fired.

“We are strong as our weakest link,” Scaramucci said on CBS Face the Nation. “And I’ll say it a little differently in a pun. We’re strong as our weakest leak.”

On State of the Union, Scaramucci cited an anonymous source on Russian hacking of the election, and then revealed that the source was the president.

“Somebody said to me yesterday – I won’t tell you who – that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those emails, you would have never seen it,” he said. “You would have never had any evidence of them, meaning that they’re super confident in their deception skills and hacking.” Pressed on the provenance of the claim, he replied: “How about it was the president?”

24 July

Scaramucci’s estranged wife, Deidre Ball, gave birth to their second child in New York. Scaramucci traveled on Air Force One with the president to West Virginia, where Trump delivered a politically charged speech before thousands of Boy Scouts. (A Boy Scouts official later apologized for allowing “political rhetoric”at their annual jamboree.)

25 July

Thumbs up and smiles aboard Air Force One on the way to Youngstown, Ohio, where the Mooch told reporters onboard: “If the leaks continue, then I’ve got to let everybody go.”

26 July

Scaramucci dined at the White House with the president, the first lady, Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine. After dinner, he placed a fateful call to New Yorker writer, Ryan Lizza.

He then tweeted: “In light of the leak of my financial info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45.”

27 July

The New Yorker published that conversation. Highlights include:

“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said of the White House chief strategist.

“Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” he said of the White House chief of staff, who Scaramucci insinuated was behind some of the most damaging leaks.

“What I want to do is I want to fucking kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people.”

Scaramucci also referred to himself in the third person, by his nickname. “OK, the Mooch showed up a week ago,” he told the magazine. “This is going to get cleaned up very shortly, OK?”

As a world which thought it was, by now, immune to surprises from Trump’s White House digested his unique communication style, the director of communications conceded he did not know the call was on the record.

28 July

Another ride on Air Force One. The destination: his native Long Island.

New York Post’s Page Six reported that Scaramucci’s infatuation with Trump was a catalyst for his wife’s decision to file for divorce while nine months pregnant with their second child after three years of marriage.

29 July

30 July

He spent Sunday mostly below the radar, though he tweeted about a call with Republican chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “Looking forward to building even stronger relationship,” he wrote.

31 July

Scaramucci watched as John Kelly was sworn in as the president’s new chief of staff.

Hours later, the White House announced that Scaramucci was out as White House communications director, reportedly at the urging of Kelly.

“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House communications director,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Mr Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”

During the daily briefing, Sanders said Scaramucci does not have an administration role “at this time”.