After reporter call, White House official promises to limit ‘colorful language’
Jul 27, 2017, 4:42 PM | Updated: 4:53 pm
FILE - In this July 25, 2017 file photo, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci speaks to members of the media at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci spoke out out after an expletive-laced phone conversation was published in The New Yorker.
He said he sometimes uses “colorful language” and pledged to refrain.
Scaramucci’s comments appeared on the website of The New Yorker magazine. In it, an angry Scaramucci used expletives to accuse White House chief of staff Reince Priebus of being a “paranoid schizophrenic.” He also accused White House chief strategist Steve Bannon of trying to burnish his own reputation.
The article was published after Scaramucci allegedly called a reporter, after the reporter tweeted that President Donald Trump and the First Lady had allegedly met with Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine.
Scaramucci later tweeted, in part: “I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight” for President Donald Trump’s agenda.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she has nothing to add to Scaramucci’s tweet.
Scaramucci had already told CNN’s “New Day” that sometimes administration officials “leak things to reporters to help shape policy.”
But Scaramucci said he wants to stop what he calls “nefarious, unnecessary, backstabbing, palace intrigue-like leaks.”
Scaramucci tweeted about leaks late Wednesday and mentioned the Twitter handle of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. That tweet has since been deleted.
Asked what he meant by including Priebus, he said, “If Reince wants to explain he’s not the leaker, he can do that.”
The Associated Press Contributed to this report.
