Scaramucci vows to 'create a more positive mojo,' cut White House staff to stop leaks
'I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks,' says Trump's new communications director
U.S. President Donald Trump's new communications director says he will take "dramatic action," including cutting staff, if leaks originating from the administration don't stop.
In his first round of cable TV news interviews since being named to one of the top jobs in Washington, D.C., Friday, Anthony Scaramucci told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace that he plans to tackle head-on the "high level of unprofessionalism" at the White House.
"We got to get the leaks stopped," said Scaramucci, a Harvard-educated former Wall Street investment banker. "I am a business person, and so I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks.
"I'm going to be very, very clear with people. If the leaks don't stop, I'm going to pare down the staff because it's just not right ... it's not fair to the president. It's actually not fair to America or the people in the government."
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Scaramucci clarified to Wallace that any cuts would be to communications office staff.
Since Trump was sworn in as president in January, he has been mired in controversy over Russia's alleged meddling in the presidential race and whether Trump's associates were involved.
Information about the Russia scandal and the inner workings of the Trump administration has been steadily leaked to the media both from inside and outside the White House.
Everybody on that [White House communications] team can stay as long as they follow the protocol of not leaking.- Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director
"I'm not going to be able to stop the leaks in the intergovernmental agencies and all that other stuff … something is going on inside the White House that the president does not like, and we're going to fix it," Scaramucci told Fox News Sunday.
"Everybody on that [White House communications] team can stay as long as they follow the protocol of not leaking."
'I'm deleting old tweets'
Scaramucci also promised to "reset the culture" inside the communications department to make staff aware that "all of us are there to serve the president of the United States and his agenda."
On Fox News, he pledged to begin "an era of a new good feeling" and said he hopes to "create a more positive mojo."
Scaramucci served Trump as a campaign fundraiser and adviser before his appointment to the communications top job.
According to multiple U.S.-based outlets, outgoing press secretary Sean Spicer reportedly resigned Friday over Scaramucci's appointment. Spicer had been serving as both communications chief and press secretary following the departure of the administration's original communications director, Michael Dubke, in May.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who shared the press secretary role with Spicer and was increasingly the one leading the White House briefings in recent weeks, permanently took over the post on Friday. It has been reported that part of Spicer's resistance to Scaramucci is his perceived lack of communications credentials and his personal links to the Trump family.
Scaramucci also appeared Sunday on CNN's State of the Union and said Trump still hadn't accepted intelligence officials' conclusion that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election.
"All of the information isn't on the table yet," Scaramucci said to host Jake Tapper.
The politics of "gotcha" are over. I have a thick skin and we're moving on to <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> agenda serving the American people
—@ScaramucciHe said that during a recent conversation with the president about the intelligence experts' findings on Russia, "He basically said to me, 'Hey you know, this is, maybe they [Russia] did it, maybe they didn't do it.'"
The White House communications head also said he planned to review intelligence officials' evidence on the Russia situation once he received security clearance and would give Trump his personal thoughts on the issue.
He also defended Trump by saying if the president believed Russia was responsible for any meddling in the U.S. election, and risked being a threat to future elections, that he would take action.
"A person that's going to be super, super tough on Russia is President Donald J. Trump," Scaramucci told State of the Union.
Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> agenda & that's all that matters
—@ScaramucciScaramucci's comments Sunday come a day after he announced he would be deleting old tweets, saying his views have evolved and that what he said in the past shouldn't be a distraction.
He was mocked online for the move, which he said he revealed publicly in the interest of "full transparency."
Social media users also quickly did a deep dive and recirculated some of his past tweets that were at odds with Trump's views, including one that praised the competence of Hillary Clinton. Trump defeated Clinton for president last year and continues to criticize her, including in several tweets Saturday.
Other Scaramucci tweets expressed support for stronger gun laws, which he tweeted about in August 2012. In May 2016, he expressed displeasure with individuals who believe climate change is a hoax. Trump has at times referred to global warming as a hoax.
"Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters," Scaramucci said Saturday in the first of a pair of tweets on the subject.
"The politics of 'gotcha' are over. I have a thick skin and we're moving on to @POTUS agenda serving the American people," he wrote.
He told Tapper on Sunday that deleting those tweets "is sending people a message" and does not make him a hypocrite.
"Here's what I hate about Washington ... we have this political purity test on policy, and so if I'm for something and then against something, all of a sudden I'm a hypocrite," he told CNN.
"Ronald Reagan started out as a Democrat under FDR and then became a conservative," he added. "Some of the smarted minds have changed and evolved and adapted their opinions."
Trump defends Scaramucci
Twitter users also scrolled back deep into Scaramucci's timeline to raise questions about a 2012 tweet in which he seemed to mis-attribute a quote to author Mark Twain.
"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like its heaven on earth. Mark Twain," Scaramucci tweeted.
Top story: Anthony Scaramucci on Twitter: "Dance like no one is watching. Sing … <a href="https://t.co/uwUhcRFhIU">https://t.co/uwUhcRFhIU</a>, see more <a href="https://t.co/bqkNFU5fao">https://t.co/bqkNFU5fao</a>
—@silberman1He made his first appearance before reporters in the White House briefing room on Friday and quickly apologized to Trump for referring to him as a "hack politician" during an August 2015 appearance on Fox Business Network.
Asked whether Trump was aware of the comment, Scaramucci joked that the president mentions it every 15 seconds.
He called it one of his "biggest mistakes" before looking into the cameras and saying: "Mr. President, if you're listening, I personally apologize for the 50th time for saying that."
In a tweet Saturday, Trump defended Scaramucci, who supported other Republican presidential candidates before he backed Trump.
"In all fairness to Anthony Scaramucci, he wanted to endorse me 1st, before the Republican Primaries started, but didn't think I was running!"
With files from CBC News