WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - White House spokesman Sean Spicer resigned on Friday, ending a
brief and turbulent tenure that made him a household name, amid further
upheaval within President Donald Trump's inner circle.
While not a
surprise, Spicer's departure was abrupt and reflected turmoil in Trump's legal
and media teams amid a widening investigation of possible ties between Trump's
campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Sarah
Sanders was named as the new press secretary by her new boss, Anthony
Scaramucci, at a White House briefing with reporters. Scaramucci, a former Wall
Street financier, was named as the administration's new top communications
official.
A Republican
close to the White House told Reuters that Trump settled on Scaramucci for the
job on Thursday and met with him on Friday morning to formally offer it to him.
After news
of Scaramucci’s hiring leaked, the official said, Spicer met with Trump in the
Oval Office and basically “gave an ultimatum” that it was “him or me.” When
Trump would not budge, Spicer resigned, the official said.
The
45-year-old Spicer, a veteran Washington staffer, was parodied memorably by
actress Melissa McCarthy on the "Saturday Night Live" TV comedy show
for his combative encounters with the White House press corps.
Trump said
he was grateful for Spicer's work in a statement, delivered at the briefing by
Sanders.
Scaramucci
told reporters, "I love the president. ... It's an honor to be here."
Asked how he was going to right the White House ship, Scaramucci said there was
nothing to fix.
"The
ship is going in the right direction. I like the team. Let me rephrase that: I
love the team," he said.
Scaramucci
said he has worked to make sure he has no conflicts of interests stemming from
his wide-ranging business activities. He was formerly a hedge fund manager and
Goldman Sachs banker. He said he has worked with the U.S. Office of Government
ethics "to take care of all this."
From the
start, Spicer invited controversy, attacking the media in his debut appearance
as press secretary for reporting what he called inaccurate crowd numbers at
Trump's inauguration.
"This
was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in
person and around the globe," he said, an assertion that quickly drew
scorn.
In a Twitter
post on Friday, Spicer wrote, "It's been an honor & privilege to serve
@POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service
through August."
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Before being
tapped by Trump for the job of press secretary, Spicer was spokesman for the
Republican National Committee. He also had previously worked in the
administration of former President George W. Bush, a time when he dressed up in
an Easter Bunny costume for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
Spicer and
other Trump aides shook up White House dealings with the media, including
cutting back daily televised news briefings and replacing them with audio
briefings only.
Separately,
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the possible Trump-Russia
ties, has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last
year between the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian
lawyer, a source with knowledge of the request said on Friday.
Attorney
General Jeff Sessions on Thursday brushed off sharp criticism from Trump,
saying he loved his job and planned to continue serving. Trump took a broad
swipe at his administration's top law officers this week in a New York Times
interview, saying he would not have appointed Sessions as attorney general if
he had known he would recuse himself.
Unrest among
White House officials was not confined to legal and communications staffers,
said two officials familiar with the situation.
Trump has
ignored the recommendations of national security adviser H.R. McMaster and his
senior director for Russia, Fiona Hill, on dealing with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They said
McMaster is frustrated by continuing debate about sending more U.S. forces to
Afghanistan. One official said tension persists between McMaster and chief
White House strategist Steve Bannon and chief speechwriter Stephen Miller.
Reporting by
Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu and Ayesha Rascoe and John Walcott; Writing by
Kevin Drawbaugh and Susan Heavey; Editing by Kieran Murray and Jonathan Oatis
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