Anthony Scaramucci was introduced as the new White House communications director on Friday in a move that could presage the New York financier playing a much larger role in West Wing operations.
The veteran Republican campaign bundler and former controlling partner of a high-dollar investment hedge fund has no background as a professional political operative, let alone political communications. But Scaramucci is a close ally of President Trump, and has acted as an informal adviser and effective television surrogate for his agenda since inauguration.
As wealthy entreprenuer, Trump respects Scaramucci as a peer. That affords the new communications director political currency with the president that few inside the West Wing can match — certainly few of the professional Washington hands he hired six months ago. That means Scaramucci’s portfolio could exceed daily messaging, a possibility he alluded to during his first White House press conference.
“I have no problem working for Reince,” Scaramucci, 53, said dismissively, when asked if he would report to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, as is customary for the communications director. “The president said I report to him directly.”
On the same day Scaramucci made his debut, White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned. Spicer is the second close Priebus aide to depart the West Wing. Katie Walsh resigned as White House deputy chief of staff weeks into Trump’s tenure. Both Spicer and Walsh were senior aides under Priebus at the Republican National Committee, where he served as chairman for six years before becoming Trump’s chief of staff.
Scaramucci, Long Island, N.Y., native, earlier this year sold SkyBridge Capital, the hedge fund he founded in 2005. Like other Trump administration heavyweights, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, Scaramucci is a veteran of Goldman Sachs with a history of supporting Democratic candidates. In 2008, he raised money for Barack Obama.
His smooth, articulate delivery on television, unflappable as he fielded tough questions about Trump since early in the 2016 general election campaign, was honed during his stint hosting “Wall Street Week” on Fox Business Network. Confidants also credit Scaramucci’s involvement in the annual SALT investment conference launced by his SkyBridge during his tenure atop the hedge fund, for expanding his media savvy.
Despite the value Trump places on television performance, Scaramucci remains a somewhat interesting choice for Trump to lean on — and an unexpected figure to end up in the president’s inner circle. He is soft spoken and methodical, where Trump is impulsive and bombastic. Plus, he began the 2016 cycle a big supporter of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and occasionally sparred with Trump, one time calling the future president a “hack.”
But Republicans in Trump’s orbit praised Scaramucci’s hiring, suggesting that as a fellow wealthy New York businessman, could command the president’s attention in a way that would enable him to influence and shape the White House message in a way Spicer never could, especially given his unpredictable use of social media.
“I get fact that Mooch is not a traditional communications guy,” said lobbyist David Urban, who oversaw Trump’s campaign in Pennsylvania, referring to Scaramucci by his nickname. “But the president has great deal of faith in him and likes him a lot — and he’s smart guy.”
“Scaramucci’s a phenomenal hire,” added Jeffrey Miller, a political adviser to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who was felled by Trump during the 2016 GOP primary but hired into his administration after the election. “He’s an incredible guy, level headed and a strong leader. He also definitely gets comms. No doubt, he’s going to serve the president well.”
Republicans outside of Trump’s inner circle disagreed with that assesment. They slammed his hiring and said it was political malpractice and another sign of a White House in disarray, with its agenda on the rocks on Capitol Hill.
In interviews, Republican operatives steeped in campaign and legislative communications said that tapping Scaramucci for the White Houe communications director role, if that was truly all Trump intended, was is like hiring one of them to run a hedge fund.
“This is a joke,” a GOP source close to the White House press operation told the Washington Examiner, on condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly. “There was simply no understanding by the president that the communications director title comes with lots of responsibilities, not just going on television.”
Michael Steel, for years a top communications aide to then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and later an adviser to Trump rival Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, also questioned Scaramucci’s hiring.
“Sean Spicer is a veteran Republican communicator with deep experience in Congress and the executive branch,” Steel said. “Replacing him with an inexperienced staffer, even an effective cable television surrogate, will not make it easier to get big things done in Washington to help the American people.”
A third Republican, who has run communications for presidential campaigns, was also critical.
“Imagine you’re a manager at a huge hedge fund on Wall Street with billions of dollars under management,” this operative said. “You’re at the office one day and it’s announced that a guy with no experience on Wall Street who has spent the last 15 years working on Capitol Hill or political campaigns is now in charge of investment strategy. What would you do?”
“If you’re an investor, you’d pull your money out,” the operative added. “If you work at that fund, you’re probably looking to take your clients and your portfolio elsewhere to another shop.”
“It’s like asking a health insurance salesman to perform surgery,” a fourth GOP strategist said.
Republicans who have worked with Scaramucci in his veteran role as a Republican bundler, which began during the 2012 campaign when he raised money for Mitt Romney, describe him as affable, helpful, and decent.
Contra the concern of GOP insiders in Washington that Scaramucci will be out of his depth, some Republicans on Capitol Hill are hopeful. A GOP source noted that Scaramucci has an existing relationship with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his leadership team, ties that were strengthened through his work bundling campaign funds Walker, another Wisconsin Republican, until he dropped out of the presidential race in September 2015 (Priebus, who also hails from Wisconsin.)
Scaramucci has maintained his relationship with the House GOP leadership team, and that could help in coordinating a unified Republican message in the months ahead.
“Anthony has been a big supporter of Paul Ryan over the years — financially and otherwise,” the GOP source said.
