So, Mooch, what was da’ deal with dat interview you did wit’ da’ New Yorker guy, anyways? And how come youse said all dat stuff about Reince “Da’ Genius” Priebus and Stevey “Da’ Cannon” Bannon?
“Most of what I said was humorous and joking. Legally, it may have been on the record, but the spirit of it was off. And he knew that,” Anthony Scaramucci said Tuesday to a reporter from The Huffington Post (of all places).
Well, there you go. The Mooch was just joking when he said Top White House strategist Bannon practices auto-fellatio — and when he said the former Chief of Staff Priebus was a “paranoid schizophrenic.” Hilarious! And, more, not only was he only kidding around, the whole conversation was off the record — well, in spirit, anyway.
In the HuffPost piece, Scary Moochy said he felt burned by The New Yorker interview, adding that the family of the reporter, Ryan Lizza, and the Scaramuccis have been friends “for more than 50 years. My dad knew his dad from construction, and we were building a personal relationship.”
Lizza said he don’t know nuttin’ ’bout dat. “I’ve only known Anthony in his capacity as a Trump surrogate and then White House communications director. We are not and have never been ‘old family friends,’ though I think our fathers knew each other, so maybe that’s what he’s talking about.”
President Trump didn’t really mind the profanity-laced New Yorker interview. “According to several sources close to the White House, the president was initially amused by the Lizza exchange but changed his opinion when he saw how much negative attention it was bringing. Scaramucci said he offered to resign before the weekend. The president told him that wouldn’t be necessary, but he instructed Scaramucci to ‘watch it’ in the future, according to someone familiar with the conversation.”
There was a ton of great stuff in the HuffPost piece, written by Editor-at-Large Vicky Ward. Like this little nugget from the day Mooch held court in his first press conference on July 21: “‘If you were 7 inches taller, I’d be worried,’ Trump told Scaramucci, according to someone familiar with the conversation who asked not to be named quoting the president.”
The piece also delved into rumors that have been making the rounds in Washington that the financier was romantically involved with Fox News’ Kimberly Guilfoyle, even though he was married and his wife was eight months pregnant.
“Scaramucci strongly denies having a sexual relationship with Guilfoyle. [Roger] Stone, a friend of Guilfoyle’s, explained that Scaramucci and Guilfoyle ‘are very close friends but nothing more.’ He added, ‘He is way too short for Kimberly.’ “
The Mooch also explained all that stuff about missing the birth of his child and sending his wife a text message congratulating her (this part actually does ring true and sound reasonable): ” Scaramucci said this is an unfair characterization of events. He told me that Ball’s due date was Aug. 9, so when he boarded Air Force One to West Virginia last Monday to attend the president’s address at the National Scout Jamboree, he didn’t think he’d be in danger of missing the birth. As soon as she texted him that she was going into labor, he said, he looked into chartering a plane from West Virginia but discovered that there was a wide no fly-zone around Air Force One. He explained that he decided to wait to fly back to Washington with the president, then travel to New York from there.”
Scaramucci also told how the new chief of staff, retired Gen. John F. Kelly, asked for his resignation. “It was a very polite conversation,” Scaramucci said. He tried to pop in on Trump, who was “unavailable.” But when the two did talk, “The president told me he knows I have his back, but he has to try to tighten the ship.”
The end of the piece hits just what’s next for The Mooch — who we have a feeling will pop up again very soon.
So what are you going to do next, I asked him.
“I am now going to go dark,” he said.
And then?
“Then I will reemerge.” He paused. “As me.”