We’re learning some things about Donald Trump’s new communications director Anthony Scaramucci, including that he’s got a flair for the dramatic and an entertaining habit of stating the obvious. On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Tuesday, Scaramucci admitted what is becoming painfully clear: Trump “probably” wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions out.
Trump’s public criticism of Sessions began in earnest last week when he told The New York Times on Wednesday that if he’d known Sessions would recuse himself on the Russia investigation, he never would have nominated him for attorney general. Tuesday morning, the president ratcheted up his criticism in a series of tweets.
“Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign – ‘quietly working to boost Clinton.’ So where is the investigation A.G.,” wrote Trump. “Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!”
Trump then added a quick slam of the acting director of the FBI.
“Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!” he wrote.
In his chat with Scaramucci Tuesday, Hewitt brought up Trump’s growing frustration with Sessions.
“It’s clear the President wants him gone,” said Hewitt in reference to the A.G.
Scaramucci admitted that Trump’s public shaming of Sessions “probably” means what we all think it means, and then went on to suggest that the “architecture” of Trump’s Cabinet requires someone more loyal, like A.G. Eric Holder … (partial transcript via Mediaite):
SCARAMUCCI: I have an enormous amount of respect for the Attorney General. But I do know the President pretty well. And if there’s this level of tension in the relationship that’s public, you’re probably right. But I don’t want to speak for the President on that because he’s a Cabinet official. And I sort of think that has to be between the President of the United States and a Cabinet official. …
You and I might be at odds with Eric Holder politically. But one of the things I would give him a lot of credit for is that he was a pretty good hockey goalie for the president. He was also willing to help the president inside the bounds of the law. I’m not saying these guys did anything illegal. But when you think about the relationship John Kennedy had with his brother as Attorney General, or you think about the relationship the president had with Eric Holder — President Obama — [President Trump and Sessions] probably don’t have that sort of relationship. And I think the president, when he thinks about the architecture of his Cabinet, I think he needs that sort of a relationship there.
So, yeah, the Sessions era is “probably” over.
Fun note on Scaramucci: According to The Washington Post, he recently floated the idea of “a daily administration ‘television’ broadcast at 7 a.m., complete with a desk on the White House lawn and guests that included Democratic leaders.” So there’s that. If nothing else, Scaramucci is certainly shaking things up in his first week in the position.