WASHINGTON — Less than two weeks after he jumped into the White House briefing room, Anthony Scaramucci on Monday ended his gig as White House communications director.
And though his tenure was brief, he left behind a series of eye-popping quotes. Here are 10 of the most memorable ones.
1. ‘I don’t have any friction with Sean. I don’t have any friction with Reince.’
Sean Spicer announced he would resign as White House press secretary when President Donald Trump made Scaramucci the new communications director.
Scaramucci, during his first public comments on the job, denied Spicer’s resignation was a sign of bad blood, and he attempted to bat down the idea he had a sour relationship with Reince Priebus, who was White House chief of staff at the time.
It would quickly become apparent that Scaramucci had “friction” with Priebus. Within days, Priebus would leave his job, and Priebus’ replacement would lead to Scaramucci’s own ouster.
2. ‘The President said I report to him directly.’
Scaramucci made clear from the start that Priebus would not be his boss — only Trump could tell him what to do. “The Mooch” repeated several times that he would report directly to the President, adding that Trump gave him “the orders today that I’m in charge, and that I report directly to him and I’m going to do my very best to serve him.”
3. “I’ve seen this guy throw a dead spiral through a tire, I’ve seen him at Madison Square Garden with a topcoat on, standing in the key and hitting foul shots and swishing them — he sinks three-foot putts”
One message Scaramucci successfully conveyed during his brief time on the job: He really liked the President, no matter his previous criticism of Trump or apparently liberal social values. Scaramucci even touted Trump’s athleticism during his first White House press conference, lauding the President’s skills in football, basketball, and golf. Of note, the official White House transcript of the remarks adds 27 feet to the putting distance. Trump has spent a considerable amount of time at his golf courses since taking office in January.
4. ‘Sarah, if you’re watching, I loved the hair and makeup person that we had on Friday. So I’d like to continue to use the hair and makeup person.’
Addressing press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Scaramucci publicly expressed his affinity for the White House’s hair and makeup person on CNN’s “State of the Union” last Sunday. Facing backlash for what some viewed as a dig at the press secretary’s appearance, Scaramucci later tweeted, “For the record, I was referring to my hair and make up and the fact that I like the make up artist. I need all the help I can get! #humor”
5. ‘How about it was the President, Jake?’
In a tense exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” Scaramucci also seemed to leak that his own anonymous source was, in fact, the President. The conversation started when Tapper pressed Scaramucci on his claims from an anonymous source that if the Russians had hacked the 2016 election, they would not be detected because of their “deception skills.” “Well, you’re making a lot of assertions here,” Tapper said, later adding, “I don’t know who this anonymous person is that said that if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn’t have been able to detect it.” That’s when Scaramucci shot back: “How about it was the President, Jake?” The Mooch followed up that he had spoken with the President on Air Force One, who maintained that, in terms of Russian interference, “maybe they did it, maybe they didn’t do it.”
6. ‘When I said we were brothers from the podium, that’s because we’re — some brothers are like Cain and Abel.’
In an interview with CNN’s “New Day” last Thursday, Scaramucci compared his relationship with Priebus to the biblical brothers Cain and Abel. It should be noted that according to the Bible story, Cain murdered Abel.
7. ‘In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45
In a now-deleted tweet, Scaramucci threatened to contact the FBI and Department of Justice about a leak of his financial disclosure information. His inclusion of “@Reince45” raised speculation about whether he was accusing Priebus of leaking his financial information. Ryan Lizza followed up on Scaramucci’s tweet, confirming, “In case there’s any ambiguity in his tweet, I can confirm that Scaramucci wants the FBI to investigate Reince for leaking.”
8. ‘Reince is a f—-ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac…’
In a now-infamous interview with The New Yorker, Scaramucci lambasted Priebus as a “schizophrenic” and “paranoiac.” But following his resignation, Priebus refused to punch back at Scaramucci when he was interviewed on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” Friday evening. “I’m not going to respond to it,” the former White House chief of staff told Blitzer. “I’m not going to get into the mud on those sorts of things.”
9. ‘I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c—.’
Scaramucci also invoked vulgar language to describe how he was not seeking media attention, which he said made him unlike Trump’s strategist, Steve Bannon.
10. ‘I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for @realDonaldTrump’s agenda. #MAGA’
Scaramucci later issued an apology on Twitter for his rant in The New Yorker, promising that he will refrain from using “colorful language” in the political arena in the future. But just 10 days after his initial appointment as White House communications director, “the Mooch” is no longer in the administration.
