New White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is winding up to fire staffers deemed insufficiently enthusiastic supporters of the President, according to two new reports.
The “Mooch,” as he’s known colloquially, told Politico Tuesday that he planned on dismissing assistant press secretary Michael Short, who worked at the Republican National Committee for years before coming to the White House alongside the former RNC president and spokesman, respectively, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer.
Spicer resigned Friday, reportedly in response to Scaramucci’s appointment as communications director, and therefore, his superior if he had stayed in the administration.
Reports of his ouster were apparently news to Short, according to a tweet from CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond.
Michael Short: "No one has told me anything and the entire premise is false." Looks like Scaramucci is firing ppl without telling them first https://t.co/UqtsXuGerP
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 25, 2017
Short did not respond to TPM’s request for comment. Politico reported that the move was part of an effort from Scaramucci to crack down on leaks.
“I’m committed to taking the comms shop down to Sarah [Huckabee Sanders] and me, if I can’t get the leaks to stop,” he told the publication.
And the Washington Post reported Monday night, citing unnamed officials with knowledge of the effort, that Scaramucci was taking advantage of a “broad mandate” from the President “to purge aides he believes are disloyal to Trump and leaking to the press.”
The Post’s sources said Scaramucci was meeting individually with White House aides to “weed out” those who he deemed were “not working hard enough” to defend Trump.
The Post reported Scaramucci planned to work quickly to make the staffing changes. Short’s eventual dismissal, should it happen, would provide the first example of Mooch’s haste.
