The Fratricidal Fight Inside the White House
When Anthony Scaramucci was named White House communications director last week, he had a dual mandate to fix the president’s dysfunctional press shop and end leaks. So far, those two goals are steeply at odds, as Scaramucci’s fierce, sudden attack on White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Wednesday and Thursday show.
An enigmatic series of tweets Wednesday night erupted into a stunning CNN interview Thursday morning in which Scaramucci compared his relationship with Priebus to Cain and Abel (he didn’t indicate which is which) and said he didn’t know whether his relationship with Priebus was “repairable.” He also implied that national-security leakers ought to be executed.
The administration’s newest public fight began Wednesday night when Politico obtained Scaramucci’s financial disclosure. (Fun fact: Scaramucci earned $88,000 from Fox News last year.) Even though, as Politico notes and as Scaramucci acknowledged, that form is available to the public, Scaramucci apparently decided it had been leaked and tweeted (he has since deleted it):
In light of the
