Anthony Scaramucci Says John Kelly Has ‘Hissy Fits’ & Is Hurting West Wing Morale
Anthony Scaramucci worked in the White House for about a week-and-a-half as Communications Director. Now he’s making the rounds of various media outlets to promote his new book, Trump, The Blue-Collar President. He appeared on Meet the Press Sunday to do just that and had plenty to say about the man who fired him — White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The Daily Mail reported that Scaramucci did not paint a flattering picture of Kelly, saying, “He hurt the morale inside the place, and he’s hurt the president, and he has hissy fits.” When asked if he is angry with Kelly, who fired Scaramucci the day he became Trump’s Chief of Staff, Scaramucci didn’t give a direct answer but instead said that he “didn’t need to fire me the way he fired me.” Scaramucci expounded on that comment by defending his work for the White House and describing the time, effort, and money he poured into Donald Trump as both candidate and president.
“I gave a tremendous amount of money to the campaign, raised a tremendous amount of money, did countless hours of media advocacy during the campaign and the transition and even after the president was inaugurated. There was a better way to fire me, but he was trying to make a spectacle out of it and so he got the spectacle that he wanted. And listen, it was, it was upsetting at the time.”
Former WH Communications Dir. Anthony Scaramucci during an exclusive interview with @MeetThePress said WH Chief of Staff John Kelly wanted to create a "spectacle" by firing him. https://t.co/yRqZLrui6S
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 21, 2018
Meet the Press host Chuck Todd brought up news this week that Kelly and John Bolton had a shouting match close to the Oval Office Thursday. Scaramucci responded that President Trump has created an atmosphere that makes the West Wing a difficult place to work. He then redirected his comments at John Kelly, reminding Todd of Bob Woodward’s allegations in his book Fear that Kelly had called President Trump “unhinged” and an “idiot” and saying that he feels like he feels vindicated as Kelly’s true colors show themselves more and more.
Scaramucci also stated that he believes that the reason that John Kelly and President Trump have a strained relationship is that they have very different ways of operating. While Trump “has a free-wheeling style,” Kelly has a military style of management. It’s in stark contrast to Trump’s way of doing things and doesn’t work well in a civilian setting, making for a strained environment and contentious relationship.
Trump, the Blue-Collar President is scheduled for release Tuesday, October 23. The website for the book describes it as the “inside story of how Donald J. Trump, a billionaire living on 5th Avenue, identified the struggle of blue-collar Americans, won the presidency, and put the country on a path to long-term prosperity.”
