Anthony Scaramucci signals new direction for White House press shop

Scaramucci’s surprising appointment on Friday to communications director prompted Sean Spicer, who had been filling the role informally since May, to step down, and elevated Sarah Sanders to the position of press secretary. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday afternoon, Scaramucci guaranteed that only two top aides — Hope Hicks and Dan Scavino — would remain in their posts and said he would “get to know” the rest of the staff in what some interpreted as a hint that more departures could be forthcoming.

“Something had to happen,” said one source close to the White House of the tensions that preceded the personnel shuffle.

Although chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus objected to the moves, Scaramucci said Friday that he and Priebus “are committed as true professionals to the team” and compared himself and the chief of staff to “brothers” who “rough each other up once in a while.”

Another source close to the White House said Bannon objected to the hiring of Scaramucci out of solidarity with Priebus, with whom he now has a warm relationship.

Regardless of the internal dynamics, allies of the president were optimistic that the staffing changes would ultimately help the White House take control of its message. Many of the populist figures and campaign hands who worked with Trump during the presidential race, but did not join the administration, have long been skeptical of Spicer given his ties to the Republican establishment that resisted Trump’s candidacy.

“Spicer was the wrong hire in January and it’s time to run the page,” Bryan Lanza, former campaign official and spokesman for the transition team, told the Washington Examiner.

Scaramucci’s arrival could signal a new direction for a White House press team that has frequently found itself on defense.

Trump has openly criticized his communications shop in the past for what he perceived as its failure to drown out negative stories with his message. The president expressed frustration with the way Spicer came to be portrayed in the media as inarticulate, an impression that Saturday Night Live sealed with its spoof of the embattled press secretary before he ceded the podium to Sanders and shifted to a behind-the-scenes role.

Mark Serrano, senior adviser to the Trump re-election campaign, said Scaramucci is likely to forge a friendly relationship with the media.

“Anthony is very disarming,” Serrano told the Washington Examiner. “He brings a very interesting style to this role.”

But Serrano said Scaramucci will still spar with the press when aggression is warranted.

“He’s no shrinking violet. He will hold members of the media accountable, but he’ll do so with aplomb,” Serrano said.

Scaramucci suggested during his appearance in the White House briefing room on Friday that he wanted to pursue a detente with the press.

“There feels like there’s a little bit of media bias,” Scaramucci said. “And so what we hope we can do is de-escalate that and turn that around, and let’s let the message from the president get out there to the American people.”

However, others suggested Scaramucci could amplify Trump’s combative, chaotic approach to communications.

Charles Gasparino, who worked with Scaramucci at Fox Business and who predicted in June that Scaramucci would land an administration post, said on the network Friday that his former colleague and Trump have similar “instincts” and warned that Scaramucci could “double down” on Trump’s occasionally destructive impulses.

Serrano said Scaramucci’s background as the former host of a Fox Business program could set him apart from other officials who Trump may have considered for the communications director role.

“It shows a degree to which he sees people in the media in a different way than people with a strictly media relations background might look at members of the media,” he said.

The founder of Skybridge Capital, an investment firm he recently sold to avoid conflicts of interest, Scaramucci landed a top post at the Export-Import Bank last month. He frequently appeared on cable news to defend the president, a habit that caught the eye of the commander in chief.

A Republican close to the White House who spoke to Spicer Thursday evening told the Washington Examiner that the president based his decision to hire Scaramucci in part on his performance on television.

The source said Trump wanted to bring in Scaramucci, whom friends and colleagues refer to as “Mooch,” to hold the title of communications director but not perform all the duties that the role typically requires.

Scaramucci would take the prestigious communications director title “but would not be fulfilling that responsibility because he doesn’t know how,” the source said. Scaramucci has virtually no background in political communications, although he has served as an active Republican donor.

“Basically, Trump wanted to give Scaramucci something to do because he thinks he’s a good Italian kid,” the source said.

Scaramucci will inherit a White House press shop besieged by the growing special counsel investigation into Russian meddling and undermined constantly by leaks from all corners of the administration.

Trump has occasionally proven himself part of the problem, such as his admission earlier this week during an interview with the New York Times that special counsel Robert Mueller’s potential probe of his finances would go beyond what the president views as Mueller’s mandate.

The West Wing moves occurred just as Trump’s outside counsel underwent a series of personnel changes.

Marc Kasowitz, the lead lawyer in Trump’s outside legal team, has represented the president in the Russia inquiry since May. But Ty Cobb, a special counsel positioned inside the White House, began representing Trump last week.

Kasowitz’s role has reportedly diminished since Cobb entered the administration shortly after Kasowitz was caught sending profanity-laced emails to a random person who had written him a critical message.

Kasowitz did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. But a source close to the legal team told the Washington Examiner that John Dowd, a veteran defense attorney who began representing Trump in June, will take the lead of the president’s outside counsel, although the source described it as a “complete team effort.”

In addition, Mark Corallo, who served as Kasowitz’s spokesman, told the Washington Examiner that he resigned from the team on Thursday, although he declined to specify a reason. He stepped down amid reports of infighting over the growing scope of Mueller’s investigation.