If White House Leaks Don’t Stop, Scaramucci Will ‘Fire Everybody’
There’s nothing employees love more than a new boss walking on the job threatening to fire everyone. But that’s the approach slick–talking Anthony Scaramucci is taking as the White House’s new communications director.
Scaramucci made the rounds on Sunday news shows promising to crack down on leaking, which has occurred at an unprecedented pace in the first six months of Trump’s administration. “The Mooch,” as Scaramucci is nicknamed, did not say whom he suspects of leaking at the White House, but he did say that they are “un-American.”
It’s unclear how much of the actual leaking is occurring at other agencies not controlled by Trump and his familial inner circle. Some Trump critics even joke that Russian intelligence is to blame.
Scaramucci’s hiring already has claimed one soul from the White House communications team, with former press secretary Sean Spicer bowing out (or being pushed out) on Friday.
Announcing the crackdown on CBS’ Face the Nation, Scaramucci told host John Dickerson:
We’re going to work on culturally changing that [the leaking], because it’s extremely unprofessional. He’s the commander in chief, the president of the United States. The people who are standing around him that are doing that sort of nonsense are actually un-American, they’re doing an injustice to the institution of the American presidency, and we’re going to work very hard to change the culture of that…If they want to stay on the staff, they’re going to stop leaking…We’re as strong as our weakest leak. If you guys want to keep leaking, get together and make a decision as a team that you’re going to stop leaking. If you’re going to keep leaking I’m going to fire everybody.
I guess we’ll find out if this aggressive approach is effective, or if The Mooch ends up working alone.
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