Anthony Scaramucci has been fired from his role as White House communications director.
It comes after a controversy-laden week for Scaramucci that included a profanity-laced tirade against other members of President Donald Trump’s White House staff. His tenure lasted just ten days.
In that time he also managed to give an extraordinary interview to BBC Newsnight where he said he was unlike others in Washington because he preferred “front-stabbing”, compared repealing Obamacare to the abolition of slavery, and said Trump was not an elitist because he eats cheeseburgers.
His rant, published in The New Yorker, was mostly aimed at then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who resigned from his post last week and was replaced by General John Kelly on Monday morning.
The White House today said the removal of Scaramucci was to give Kelly a “clean slate”.
Scaramucci also gave one of the more memorable quotes so far of the Trump administration during that interview, while arguing that he doesn’t care for media attention. “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said.
But that wasn’t the only eyebrow-raising moment during his ten days in the White House.
Scaramucci brought on criticism after directing comments about hair and makeup at White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He also reportedly received divorce papers from his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s son while Scaramucci was with Trump last week.
Even his appointment was laden with controversy.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer reportedly submitted his resignation after learning Trump was giving Scaramucci a prominent role on the White House communications team.
Scaramucci’s short tenure followed that of Mike Dubke, who resigned in May after just three months as White House communications director.
Just this morning, Trump assured his Twitter followers there is “No WH chaos!”
Scaramucci first met Trump briefly when he was 31 and working at Goldman Sachs, and the pair got closer over the years.
Most profiles of “The Mooch” have mentioned he is a “New York financier”. He made his name at Goldman Sachs before launching his own wealth management firm, SkyBridge Capital, in 2005. He had no political or communications experience before taking the White House role.
The Long Island native is the son of a construction worker who likes to exploit his everyman New York roots.
“I’m from a town right on the border of Queens,” he told the BBC when asked about his past criticism of Trump.
“And the President grew up in Queens. We have a little more of a different communications style [than the UK], a little bit more direct ... probably less subtle and polite. You don’t think politicians in your home town are hitting each other left and right?”