Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, has been given a major task by President Trump — find the leakers inside the administration, and oust them — and he's working in overdrive, officials told The Washington Post Monday.
Scaramucci is meeting with all of the aides in the press department, learning about their roles and getting rid of those who aren't working hard enough to defend Trump, people with knowledge of the situation told the Post. A list has been circulating among Scaramucci's allies with the names of people who used to work for Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, and Sean Spicer, his former press secretary, at the Republican National Committee, and they are in danger of being fired, the officials said. Scaramucci doesn't report to the chief of staff, as is tradition, but rather directly to Trump, the Post reports, and he has also made it known that he thinks some staffers are more concerned with their relationships with Priebus, rather than worried about defending Trump and his agenda.
Already, Trump thinks Scaramucci is doing a bang-up job compared with Spicer — in one of the most biting parts of the Post report, Scaramucci is described as being "almost family" to Trump, while Spicer was most definitely considered the help. Several aides told the Post they welcomed Scaramucci and were glad to see Spicer gone, as he was a bad manager, but others had sympathy, saying Spicer had an extremely difficult job trying to explain Trump to the outside world.
Ryan Williams, a Republican strategist, told the Post that until Trump and communications staffers are on the same page, there will be problems. "Unlike every other staffer, maybe Anthony Scaramucci will be able to persuade the president to stay on message, but I'll believe it when I see it."