President Donald Trump has dismissed Anthony Scaramucci from the White House communications director post only 10 days after he was appointed.
It comes just days after Scaramucci, 53, unloaded on former chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in an expletive-laden rant to a New Yorker reporter.
“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”
Kelly, who was sworn in just Monday morning as the president’s chief of staff, requested Scaramucci’s removal, according to The New York Times, which first reported the move. The newspaper said that Scaramucci, who was an investment manager before taking the White House job, “boasted about reporting directly to the president not the chief of staff.”
A previous White House communications director, Mike Dubke, resigned in late May. It was not immediately clear who would take over for Scaramucci.
Scaramucci was not officially set to start as communications director until Aug. 15. He made a variety of media appearances since his appointment, repeatedly pledging to crack down on leaks to media outlets and going after Priebus, the former chief of staff.
Before Trump picked him for communications director, Scaramucci had served as senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank.
Scaramucci had reached a deal to sell his firm, SkyBridge Capital, but it was not complete when Trump appointed him. It is unclear if he plans to return to the firm.