Scaramucci Pledges 'Dramatic Steps' To End White House Leaks
Newly-appointed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci on Wednesday indicated he may fire some people from his department in a series of "dramatic steps" to curb the White House leaks.
While it has just been a week that he assumed office, Scaramucci is already grabbing headlines because of his statements and deleted tweets.
READ: Anthony Scaramucci Called Trump A 'Hack Politician' Before Joining White House
He added saying the holdovers from the administration of former President Barack Obama were responsible for series of leaks in the recent months. "There seems to be some holdovers, political holdovers from the Obama administration that are not helping," he said to Fox News. He said he would meet the communications teams and discuss the problem.
The new communications director insisted he wanted to bring down the leaks to zero, but it might not be possible, however, he would be able to curb the leaks to a great extent. He also warned the senior White House staff who, according to him, ask juniors to leak information. In a tweet, Scaramucci also said he would be contacting FBI on leaks related to his financial disclosure.
"In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept # swamp @Reince45," he tweeted. The tweet was seen as an attempt to threaten White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. However, later Scaramucci clarified his tweet was not meant to target Priebus. He deleted the original tweet.
While the number of televised briefings in the White House have reduced in the last few weeks, Scaramucci on Friday, which was his first day in the office, addressed a televised press briefing.
Scaramucci said he was not in favor of briefings to continue without cameras. "I don't think we need to have the cameras off," he said. "But if the President doesn't want the cameras on, guess what? We're not going to have the cameras on," he was quoted as saying, CNN reported.
After Scaramucci’s name for the post of new communication director was announced last week, Sean Spicer resigned from the post of press secretary. It was widely reported Spicer was not in favor of Scaramucci’s hiring. Both of them, however, tried hard not to spill the beans in public.
READ: Anthony Scaramucci Net Worth, Donald Trump Ally Who Caused 3 CNN Reporters To Resign
Earlier, Scaramucci was to join the White House staff as adviser and public liaison to government agencies and businesses. However, the position was retracted later. Scaramucci also served in Trump transition team's executive committee. He was also considered for some other roles like ambassador to Paris based organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. He joined US Export-Import Bank as senior vice president and chief strategy officer in June, Politico reported.
Scaramucci made headlines in June after CNN retracted a story where it was claimed the Senate investigators were looking into a meeting between an executive from a Russian investment fund and Scaramucci to probe Moscow meddling in the presidential election. The controversy forced three journalists of the news organization had to resign.
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