Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci threatened to sue a student and the student-run newspaper at Tufts University over an op-ed published in the newspaper that Scaramucci claims is “defamatory,” the Boston Globe reported on Sunday.
In a letter, Scaramucci’s lawyer demanded that Camilo A. Caballero, a graduate student, and The Tufts Daily retract “false and defamatory allegations of fact” from an op-ed written by Caballero for the paper, according to the Boston Globe.
“Mr. Scaramucci is ready to take legal action to correct these false and defamatory statements — and to prevent any further damage to his reputation — but will refrain from litigation if you retract the false statements and issue a public apology,” Samuel J. Lieberman, Scaramucci’s lawyer, wrote a the letter last week, per the Boston Globe
Scaramucci also wrote an email to Caballero on Nov. 16, telling the student to “back it up or you will hear from my lawyer,” according to the Boston Globe.
“You may have a difference of opinion from me politically which I respect but you can’t make spurious claims about my reputation and integrity,” he wrote in the email, according to the Globe.
Caballero wrote in the op-ed that Scaramucci is “irresponsible, inconsistent” and “an unethical opportunist,” and he called for Scaramucci, a Tufts alum, to step down from his position on an advisory board for Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Since Scaramucci’s threat to sue Caballero and The Tufts Daily, Tufts University postponed a Monday event with Scaramucci. University spokesman Patrick Collins said that at the event, attendees were set to discuss Scaramucci’s background and a petition from students calling for his removal from the board, but that the school delayed the event until after the “legal matters” are settled.
“We’re disappointed that Mr. Scaramucci has taken this action,” Collins told the Boston Globe.
In a Sunday interview with the Boston Globe, Scaramucci said that he’s “shocked that a university that I love and have been a part of for 35 years is silencing that debate because of my request for an apology.”
Scaramucci then defended his reaction to the op-ed in a series of tweets Sunday night.
Daniel I was ready to come to the school, that’s an open debate. Nobody is going to call my ethics into question without a fight. An apology will suffice. https://t.co/XWx0Q8XP6r
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017
I asked for an apology for defamatory statements. That is a teachable moment professor. The student is an adult, let his actions stand without any coddling. You can’t defame people in America because you don’t like their political views. https://t.co/q5fi8wszqn
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017
Can’t write defamatory statements. People are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. Read the case law on this. It is well grounded. Sorry you don’t like our @POTUS but he still is president. https://t.co/7Bz4CcJG4s
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017
