In the 48 hours since being named White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci has proven beyond all doubt that he fits right in with Donald Trump’s administration. Two years ago, he loudly denounced Trump as “an inherited-money bully.” But after accepting a job from said “bully,” Scaramucci spent the better part of Friday feverishly deleting a raft of tweets that either slammed Trump or don’t fit in with the White House line.
His explanation?
Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 22, 2017
Well, on Sunday, Scaramucci gave us more proof that he’s a perfect fit for the Trump White House. He can peddle alternative facts like the best of them.
Scaramucci dropped by CNN’s “State of the Union” for his first national interview before officially taking the reins as Trump’s communications chief. Raw Story got a clip.
Host Jake Tapper asked Scaramucci if Trump was prepared to sign a bill that would tighten sanctions on Russia. That bill passed the Senate by a staggering margin of 98-2, and is likely to pass almost as overwhelmingly in the House.
Scaramucci replied that Trump wasn’t sure whether he would sign it–then suggested that there was still actually a debate about whether Russia hacked the election.
“I think it was three or four weeks ago there were 17 intelligence agency that were saying something. Then we realized that there was only four intelligence agencies. And I’m not saying four intelligence agencies is insignificant. I’m just saying there’s a lot of disinformation out there. You know, somebody said to me yesterday–I won’t tell you who–that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those e-mails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them, meaning that they’re super confident in their deception skills and hacking.”
It’s rather ironic that Scaramucci is asking us to trust an anonymous source. After all, his boss has wrung his hands about stories using anonymous sources. But then again, we’re talking about a president who has gone on unhinged 140-character rants based on what “many people are saying.”
Tapper must have had that in mind, because he was having none of it.
“Well, you’re making a lot of assertions here. I don’t know who this anonymous person is that said, if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn’t have been able to detect it.”
Scaramucci then admitted who his source was–Trump.
“He called me from Air Force One and basically said to me, ‘This is–maybe they did it, maybe they didn’t do it.'”
Understandably, Tapper was flabbergasted.
“But this is exactly the issue here! We have experts, the U.S. intelligence agencies–unanimous, both Obama appointees and Trump appointees–the director of national intelligence, the head of the National Security Agency, the head of the FBI. I mean, all of these intelligence experts saying, ‘Russia hacked the election, they tried to interfere in the election.’ No votes were changed, but there was this information and misinformation campaign. President Trump is contradicting it and you’re siding with President Trump!”
Scaramucci then engaged in a display of verbal gymnastics that would do Kellyanne Conway proud.
“Well, I didn’t say that I was siding with President Trump. He hasn’t made the decision yet to sign that bill one way or the other. And so, when he makes that decision, I will 100 percent side with him, because I am his communications director. And I’m I’m his advocate on a show like this.”
Wait a minute, Mooch. First you say you aren’t siding with Trump, then you say you’re his “advocate”? Which is it?
Tapper then asked an obvious question.
“President Trump told you that he still doesn’t believe that Russia was trying to interfere in the election, even though the overwhelming body of the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, and his own intelligence experts are telling him the opposite. You’re saying you’re going to side with the president. Don’t you owe a duty to the truth?”
You’re not the only one who wants an answer to that question, Jake.
It’s no secret that Trump had a hard time filling administration posts. After seeing this exchange, it’s easy to see why. A large number of potential Republican staffers who were worth getting were never-Trumpers, and even those who weren’t probably balked at the prospect of working in a White House where lying for this president was part of the job description.
This White House already had a King of Lies in Trump, a Queen of Lies in Conway, and a Princess of lies in Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Now it has a Prince of Lies.
(featured image courtesy Jdarsie11, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
