President Trump is preparing to name Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier and longtime supporter, as communications director, two sources "familiar with the planning" tell Jonathan Swan at Axios. Scaramucci has been in talks with the White House to join the communications team in some high-level role, Politico reports, and the communications director job has been open since Mike Dubke's short tenure came to an end in May. Scaramucci, who recently sold off his stake in SkyBridge Capital, his hedge fund, for a Trump administration position that fell through, has been working at the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Trump has been vocally unhappy with his communications team, and he appreciates how Scaramucci defends him in his frequent appearances on Fox News, Swan says. Trump "thinks he is really good at making the case for him," one White House official tells Politico. "He loves him on TV." Scaramucci, or "Mooch," is a longtime friend of Fox News host Sean Hannity, and, according to Maggie Haberman at The New York Times, he's close to Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump like him.
"Trump's plans to appoint Scaramucci came as a surprise to Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who found out after the plans had already been made," Swan says. It's an "open question whether Priebus tries to stop it," Haberman adds. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who has been acting communications director, is expected to stay on.
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