Is This the Type of Comparison a Senior White House Official Should Be Making?
Incoming White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci ignited a firestorm Wednesday night by accusing Chief of Staff Reince Priebus of leaking his financial disclosure document, and demanded an FBI investigation. The entire story was false, every part of it. Scaramucci’s financial disclosure is publicly available, and was obtained legally by a reporter for Politico.Â
Priebus has not responded. Scaramucci, just like his boss President Trump, chose not to apologize but rather, to change his story to suggest outing leakers is a team effort that Priebus is joining.
The damage has been done.
Scaramucci went on CNN Thursday morning to discuss the situation, and to announce his war on leaks.Â
It’s important to note at this point that he is not yet even a White House employee. The sale of his firm, a hedge fund, “to a Chinese conglomerate is undergoing a regulatory review,” CNN Money reports. Former Obama-era DOJ Chief Spokesperson Matthew Miller weighed in on Scaramucci contacting the FBI and the fact that he’s not supposed to be working in the White House yet, given his financial situation has not yet been resolved:
But on CNN, Scaramucci had a message for the “leakers.”Â
The soon-to-be White House Communications Director says he wants Trump administration employees to handle the President’s secrets with “honor,” just like Joe Paterno kept secrets.
“On the honor of the job. Remember Joe Paterno? What would he say? ‘Act like you’ve been there before.’ Act with honor and dignity and respect and hold the confidence of the presidency and his office,†Scaramucci said.
The secrets the late Joe Paterno kept disgraced him: he allegedly hid more than a decade of the child sexual abuse of his assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky.
Is this the type of comparison a senior White House official should be making?
Scaramucci’s comparison ignited another firestorm of a different kind, on Twitter:
Â
Â
Â