Trump fires Scaramucci after just 10 days in role

Ten days after he was appointed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was ousted by the Trump administration on Monday, the latest in a series of personnel scandals to engulf the White House.

The decision to remove Mr Scaramucci, confirmed by the White House on Monday afternoon, was believed to have been taken by John Kelly, US president Donald Trump’s newly-appointed chief of staff.

“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House communications director,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement on Monday afternoon, just hours after Mr Kelly was sworn in at a cabinet meeting.

“Mr Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”

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Mr Scaramucci’s appointment on July 21st contributed to two high-profile departures from the White House in the last 10 days.

Press secretary Sean Spicer stepped down hours after Mr Scaramucci’s appointment, having spent six months in the role. A week later White House chief of staff Reince Priebus resigned.

A fast-talking Italian-American from New York, Mr Scaramucci had become embroiled in a number of public confrontations including a public spat with Mr Preibus. Mr Scaramucci appeared to accuse his colleague of leaking information to the press, before a journalist with the New Yorker disclosed details of a phone conversation he had with him in which he launched an expletive-ridden tirade against Mr Priebus.

Mr Priebus stood down from his position on Friday making way for Mr Kelly.

Inner circle

The 67-year-old retired four-star general, who was named by Mr Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security in January, has been brought into the White House inner circle.

Mr Kelly, an Irish-American from Boston, is the latest senior military figure to be given a senior role by Mr Trump. Defence secretary James Mattis and national security adviser HR McMaster are believed to have the ear of the president as he seeks to impose order on a chaotic six months in the White House.

Both Mr Kelly and Mr Trump attended a ceremony in the White House East Room on Monday during which the president bestowed the medal of honour on war veteran James McCloughan. Neither man mentioned the firing of Mr Scaramucci.

Mr Scaramucci who sold his stake in Skybridge, the hedge fund he founded, earlier this year in anticipation of a job within the Trump administration has also been subject to intense personal scrutiny after the New York Post reported that his wife Deirdre Ball filed for divorce. The report emerged days before Ms Ball gave birth to the couple's second child.

Meanwhile, speaking in Estonia, vice-president Mike Pence warned Russia against using “force, threats, intimidation or malign influence” against the Baltic states.

His comments come a day after Moscow announced that the US would have to reduce its diplomatic staff in the country by 755 people, in retaliation for the sanctions passed by Congress last week and which are expected to be signed by Mr Trump this week.