Donald Trump has sacked Anthony Scaramucci, the White House communications director, ten days after his appointment.
The US President took the decision "at the urging of new White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly", says the Washington Post, which calls it "a clear sign" that Kelly is "being empowered to manage what has been an unwieldy West Wing operation".
Scaramucci hit the headlines last week after attacking several senior White House officials and saying he planned to "fire them all".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Reince Priebus, then chief of staff, "left shortly after the rant in which Mr. Scaramucci accused him of undermining the President through leaks of information to reporters", the New York Times reports.
Scaramucci reserved his most vivid critique for Trump's director of strategy, telling the New Yorker: "I'm not Steve Bannon. I'm not trying to suck my own c**k… I'm not trying to build my own brand off the f*****g strength of the President."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said last night: "The President certainly felt Anthony's comments were inappropriate for a person in that position."
Scaramucci's "unusually short tenure" comes at "a moment of extreme turbulence in the White House", says the Los Angeles Times, adding that Trump's senior team has been "embroiled in infighting as it confronts low poll numbers for the President, a floundering legislative agenda and the investigations involving Russian meddling in last year's presidential election".
However, other White House media chiefs have had shorter times in office.
John O Koehler, chief communicator for Ronald Reagan in March 1987, lasted less than a week after it was revealed "he had been a member of a Nazi youth group when he was 10", the Washington Post reports.
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Jane Austen lives on at these timeless hotelsThe Week Recommends Here’s where to celebrate the writing legend’s 250th birthday
-
‘Mexico: A 500-Year History’ by Paul Gillingham and ‘When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy’ by David Margolickfeature A chronicle of Mexico’s shifts in power and how Sid Caesar shaped the early days of television
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
‘It’s critical that Congress get involved’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
-
The military: When is an order illegal?Feature Trump is making the military’s ‘most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts’
-
Ukraine and Rubio rewrite Russia’s peace planFeature The only explanation for this confusing series of events is that ‘rival factions’ within the White House fought over the peace plan ‘and made a mess of it’
-
The powerful names in the Epstein emailsIn Depth People from a former Harvard president to a noted linguist were mentioned
