Trump Removes Anthony Scaramucci From White House Job

Photo by Urs Jaudas/World Economic Forum/Wikimedia Commons.

Can you get fired from a job you technically don’t even have yet? That’s the existential question facing former Wall Street investor Anthony Scaramucci, who was removed from his post as incoming White House Communications Director. Technically, “the Mooch,” as friends and colleagues call him, wasn’t even supposed to formally start the position until Aug. 15.

“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

But according to multiple reports, Trump removed him from the post at the urging of new White House chief of staff John Kelly. From The New York Times:

“The decision to remove Mr. Scaramucci, who had boasted about reporting directly to the president, not the chief of staff, John F. Kelly, came at Mr. Kelly’s request, the people said. Mr. Kelly made clear to members of the White House staff at a meeting Monday morning that he is in charge.”

“Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team,” Sanders added in her statement. “We wish him all the best.”

Further reports suggest that Trump and his family were personally offended by language Scaramucci used during a phone call with New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza that went viral last week. During that call, Scaramucci made vulgar references to Trump adviser Steve Bannon and now-former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

It’s been an incredibly tumultuous week for Scaramucci, whose wife recently filed for divorce reportedly in no small part over her objections with her husband’s “obsession” with becoming part of Trump’s political team.

Sure, Sean Spicer may have been the most ridiculed White House Press Secretary in American history, but the six months he spent as the source for Melissa McCarthy “SNL” skits still towers over the 10 days Scaramucci spent in his interim position. Spicer, for his part, reportedly resigned in protest when it was announced that the former hedge fund manager would be taking a position in the Trump White House.