Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci blasted Chife of Staff John Kelly on Thursday, saying he rules 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by ‘fear and intimidation’ – and predicted an exodus of top aides because of it.
Kelly, he complained on CNN, has prevented him and other Trump loyalists from visiting people in the West Wing for meetings.
‘You’re going to block me from getting in? If someone wants to see me at the White House you’re going to block me?’ he asked, referring to Kelly.
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci bashed Chief of Staff John Kelly on Thursday, saying his iron-first management style will drive top aides out of the West Wing
Kelly, a retired Marine general, has brought order to chaotic Trumpworld, but Scaramucci says ‘fear and intimidation’ have paralyzed the president’s inner circle
The morning interview on the ‘New Day’ program came less than a day after the current communications director, Hope Hicks, said she will soon leave the administration.
‘I predict more departures,’ Scaramucci said, placing blame squarely in Kelly’s lap.
‘There’s a culture of fear inside the White House and people are afraid to talk to each other,’ he said.
Scaramucci famously lasted just 11 days as Trump’s flamboyant mouthpiece before crashing and burning by giving an expletive-laden interview to The New Yorker.
He said Thursday that he was fired because he ‘talked a little bit of smack about two guys that we were trying to get rid of,’ meaning former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.
‘He fires me in five seconds.’
But Kelly, Scaramucci charged, went to the mat to protect Trump’s staff secretary, Rob Porter, after DailyMail.com reported that his two ex-wives had accused him of domestic abuse.
‘These guys are smacking up their wives, and he’s trying to figure out a way to keep them inside the White House. It’s very dishonest to me,’ he said.
‘He had the information. He tried to cover up the information. He tried to get other people inside the White House to cover up the information for him.’
Scaramucci praised Hicks in a tweet on Wednesday, writing that she is ‘a world class person and is going to go on to have an unbelievable career.’
But a day later the man known as ‘The Mooch’ was bashing the man who he believes ultimately drove her out.
Communications Director Hope Hicks is leaving soon, she said Wednesday, and Scaramucci says an avalanche of others will be coming
Hicks’ then-boyfriend Rob Porter (right) was forced out of the White House following ex-wives’ allegations of spousal abuse; Scaramucci slammed Kelly for protecting him for months
Scaramucci famously lasted just 11 days as Trump’s flamboyant mouthpiece before crashing and burning by giving an expletive-laden interview to The New Yorker; he appeared on CNN
‘Morale is terrible,’ Scaramucci added on Thursday. ‘The reason why the morale is terrible is that rule by fear and intimidation does not work in a civilian environment. So here we are. It’s messed up. It will be up to the president to figure out if he wants to fix it or not.’
Building a wall around the president to keep his longtime political allies from speaking with him, he said, is a losing strategy because Trump will ultimately need his old inner circle to help him win again in 2020.
‘I think it’s a mistake going into a midterm election, and into another presidential election, where you’ve got Trump loyalists that want to help the president,’ he said.
‘New Day’ host Chris Cuomo asked Scaramucci if Kelly had succeeded in bringing order to the White House after months of internal chaos.
‘There’s a martial order and then there’s order where there is, like, good harmony,’ he replied, speaking of the retired Marine general’s management style.
‘There are two different types of order. There’s lots of different ways you can describe order. But sometimes order is actually not a good word.’